Sidney, J.C. “Map of the Circuit of Ten Miles Around the City of Philadelphia"

J.C. Sidney.  “Map of the Circuit of Ten Miles Around the City of Philadelphia.  With the Names of Villages, Roads, Mills, Property Owners, Taverns &c..”  With insets of “Girard College” and “Laurel Hill Cemetery.” 

Philadelphia: Robert P. Smith, 1847.  21 1/4 x 21.  Lithograph by N. Friend.  Printed by P.S. Duval.  Original hand coloring.  Folding pocket map on banknote paper.  With folds as issued.  Map is dry-mounted onto to old backing board.  Map is time-toned with two small wear holes along intersecting folds right hand side.  Series of small holes in boarder area left hand side.  Else, fine condition.  Framed.  Glass has been cleaned on both sides with a new paper dust cover and hanging wire on back of frame.  Sold as is.  Phillips: 424; W. Ristow, American Maps and Mapmakers, pp. 256, 344; Prints of Philadelphia: 157.  A/A 

Map is in need of professional paper conservation which will preserve the map,  make it more visually appealing and increase its value.

The growth of residential and manufacturing communities in the region surrounding the city created a demand for maps of a wider area than was usually depicted.  This demand was met by Robert Pearsall Smith’s publication of “Sidney’s Map of Ten Miles Round.”  This wonderfully detailed document was issued both as a folding map and as a wall map.  J.C. Sidney, an English civil engineer, immigrated to Philadelphia around 1845 and found temporary employment as an assistant in the Library Company of Philadelphia.  The head librarian, John Jay Smith, together with his son, Robert, hired Sidney to produce this map.  The Smiths considered it to be their most successful cartographic publication.  Copious detail is depicted, including roads, topography, property owners, toll booths, mills, inns and railroads.  The area shown includes the entire county of Philadelphia, parts of Delaware and Montgomery Counties, and a semicircle of New Jersey surrounding Camden.  Two insets grace the lower corners, both drawn by Augustus Köllner.  One scene shows Girard College and the other is of Laurel Hill Cemetery.  Interestingly, J.J. Smith was a supporter of the college and was one of the founders of the cemetery.