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Excellent. Manuscript map on thick stock. Size 5.5 x 6.25 Inches. This is an exceptional original c. 1880 manuscript draft map of New Orleans in 1728 drafted by eccentric German-American civil engineer Baron Ludwig von Reizenstein for later publication in George E. Waring Jr.'s influential 1881 History and Present Condition of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Report on the City of Austin, Texas . A Closer Look Waring's History and Present Condition of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Report on the City of Austin, Texas included an extensive history of the city of New Orleans from its founding until 1880. This historical section included 10 maps of New Orleans, both Reizenstein originals and versions of historical maps. The present map is Reizenstein's recreation of the map of Ignace-François Broutin (1690 - 1751), an important surveyor and engineer in early French Louisiana, who produced maps of the city in 1728 and 1732, which themselves were based on an unsigned manuscript map (now held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France) titled 'Plan de la ville de la Nouvelle Orléans en l'état quelle étoit le 30 may 1725,' among the earliest maps of the city, believed to have been prepared by Adrien de Pauger (c. 1685 - 1726) and/or Valentin Devin (fl. c. 1719 - 1725). The map presents the burgeoning city, with the street grid (now the 'French Quarter') laid out by de Pauger easily recognizable. Several sites within the city and along its periphery, including residential quarters, the prison, mills, a brickyard, a riverside levee, magazine (poudrière, likely the origin of the name Magazine St.), and the seat of government, are labelled or numbered, corresponding to an index at left. The 'Fleuve Saint Louis' (Mississippi River) flows before the city. Bayous, including the still-so-named Bayou St. John, and a drainage ditch (fossé d'écoulement) lay to the north of the city, towards Lake Pontchartrain. The Waring Report George E. Waring, Jr.'s History and Present Condition of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Report on the City of Austin, Texas was published in 1881 as part of a study commissioned in 1880 by the U.S. Census Bureau. In 1886, Waring's full report, the Report on the Social Statistics of Cities , was published to document and analyze the social, economic, and environmental conditions of urban centers in the United States. The Report sought to provide a detailed statistical overview of urban life, examining topics such as public health, infrastructure, housing, sanitation, and demographics. Its publication reflected the growing concerns of the time regarding urbanization, industrialization, and their impact on public well-being. The Report had a lasting influence on urban reform and public policy, leading to the implementation of large-scale public works projects, including sewer systems and public housing initiatives. His focus on sanitation and public health provided the foundation for modern urban hygiene practices, and his data-driven approach to social analysis became a model for subsequent studies on urban life. Publication History and Census As L. Reizenstein's original manuscript map, this is unique. A lithograph version of the map was published in George E. Waring Jr.'s History and Present Condition of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Report on the City of Austin, Texas . The History contained this and several other maps by Reizenstein, the original drafts for which Geographicus also holds. Even printed examples of this map from the History are very rare. These original drafts are both larger and more beautiful, in addition to being one of a kind. We do not know precisely when Waring commissioned Reizenstein to make the maps, but it must have occurred around 1880 when the Waring report was ordered as part of that year's census. As Waring notes in the report, the New Orleans section is the largest in the book, having been mostly completed before the report was ordered. A one-of-a-kind record of New Orleans history.
Seller Inventory # NewOrleans1728-reizenstein-1880
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