Reed, John

To the Honourable House of Representatives of the Freemen of Pennsylvania this Map of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia With the Catalogue of Purchasers is Humbly Dedicated by their Most Obedient Humble Servant John Reed. [Philadelphia:] engraved by James Smither, printed by Thomas Man, [1774]



Engraved map on 6 joined sheets (totalling 29 7/8 x 57 3/4 in.; 758 x 1469 mm), inset plan of Philadelphia after Thomas Holme, engraved views of the Alms House, Pennsylvania Hospital, and the State House; trimmed close to decorative border, especially at left margin, some light staining and minor repair, heavier staining and bit of cleaning abrasion at upper left, backed with tissue. Matted, framed, and glazed.



Accompanied by:



John Reed. An Explanation of the Map of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Printed for the Author, and Sold by Mr. Nicholas Brooks, 1774



4to (8 7/8 x 7 in.; 225 x 178 mm). Some light browning, occasional marginal tears and repairs. Half brown morocco antique.

The Library Company of Philadelphia, with embossed stamp, bookplate, and duplicate-release stamp (the book only)

Evans 13564; Howes R128; Sabin 68554; Snyder City of Independence 41; Wheat & Brun 458

John Reed's "Plan of First Purchasers," one of the rarest and most significant maps of Philadelphia; first state, prior to the removal of the printer's name from the plate. "John Reed was a promising young merchant in Philadelphia before the Revolution. He was also convinced that he and his family had been unjustly deprived by William Penn of lands rightfully theirs lying outside the city. That conviction carried him to the publication of a small book and new and different kind of Philadelphia map. By agreement entered into between Penn and his 'first purchasers' in 1681, those buying land in Philadelphia became entitled to a free bonus or premium of land in an area commencing just outside the bounds of the city and known as the 'liberties.' Reed's position was that, despite his agreement, Penn had, probably intentionally, re-alloted to others the liberty lands rightfully those of the first purchasers and their descendants, of whom Reed seems to have been one" (Snyder). Reed's map depicted the liberty lands surrounded by tables listing the names of the rightful first purchaser of each area, as well "the persons who took up the land."

Reed understood that his map would be controversial, and in the accompanying Explanation he told his subscribers that "notwithstanding the insinuations of some of the Proprietary officers are, that the intention of this work is to cause confusion and contention among the people of this province, &c. I can with truth declare, that I know but few whose property it affects; and that was occasioned when people applied for their rights; the surveyor laying them on lands long since surveyed and patented to others. ..."

"Almost a century later than those by Holme, [Reed's map] pictures the Philadelphia of the Declaration of Independence and of the Revolution. More widely used than any other early map, it shows the degree to which the Founder's plans had prevailed, or been modified in the Philadelphia known to Washington, Franklin and Jefferson, and as it appeared during the decade when it was not only the capital of the nation, but second only to London among English-speaking communities" (Lingelbach, "William Penn and City Planning" in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography vol. 68, no. 4). Reed's highly detailed map was already scarce by the first half of the nineteenth century, and at least three full-size facsimiles were called for, the first in 1846.