An Atlas
of Rare City Maps: Comparative Urban Design
1830-1842
by Melville C. Branch
Princeton Architectural Press, New York,
1978
103 pp., illus. b/w & col. Trade, $80.00
ISBN: 1-568-98073-6.
Reviewed by Kasey Asberrry
Human Origins
955 Delano SF CA 94112
kasberry@humanorigins.org
This collection of 40 maps was originally
published by the Society for the Diffusion
of Useful Knowledge in a series of 60. The
Society had the then revolutionary goal
of making information about the world accessible
to anyone who was curious (rather than just
those who could afford it) as well as those
who regardless of their economic means needed
to have their curiosities piqued, those
"whose minds are listless or engrossed with
other pursuits—debauched by pleasures,
occupied with business, enervated by indolent
habits—and who regard the effort of
gaining knowledge as a toil, the pain of
which is inadequately recompensed by the
acquisition".
In this vein the Society also published
The Household Almanac, The Penny
Cyclopaedia, The Library for the
Young, The Working-Man's Companion,
The Gallery of Portraits, The Map
of the Heavens, The Statistics of
Great Britain and various mathematical
tables and treatises.
Via maps mid-19th Century snapshots
are provided of Alexandria, Amsterdam, Calcutta,
Constantinople, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh,
Geneva, Madrid, Stockholm, Vienna, eight
cities in Italy, five in Germany, four in
France, three apiece for England & the
United States, 2 each in Belgium, Portugal
& Russia.
Not so much a detriment as a point of curiosity
is the third of the original series of 60
that were left out of this collection. It
could have been interesting to see Mexico
City & Havana, Edo & Manilla, Johannesburg
& Timbuktoo, all thriving cities at
this time, included. Even a reference that
listed the maps originally published in
the series but left out in the collection
would have been instructive and more complete.
This series of publications hails from the
same period that gave birth to deductive
theories of geography and economics such
as Von Thunen's theory of Land Use and Cristaller's
modeling of Central Place theory (Germany).
Did the publication of these maps inform
this ideological movement? Probably not
since these models generalized from idealized
places rather than drew conclusions from
observations of and comparisons based upon
broad sources. Their publication is more
akin to the adventurous spirit that roamed
the world collecting orchids and artifacts
of earlier cultures, solving mysteries and
not coincidentally advancing empire. Sherlock
Holmes probably found these maps invaluable.
For the contemporary urban planner these
reproductions of the original high-quality
engravings are a rich resource. Beyond being
very fine examples of the craft of cartography
they serve as a time capsule or transport
vehicle and expose a world view that identified
these as the Great Cities of the time. This
perspective is not one limited to information
required to trace a pedigree to "Classic"
roots or substantiate pride of colonialism,
but rather supports a notion of the common
good promoted by personal improvement based
on exposure to facts for their own sake.
As planners work to improve upon the early
foundational models of urban studies these
plates can help to answer questions framed
today based upon comparisons and similarities
observed within complex city systems,
perhaps avoiding previous mistakes that
might have been made through oversimplification.
Any practical application as a planning
tool aside, this atlas nourishes the imagination
with lovely detail from a time just out
of reach yet still clearly influencing the
way we live now.
