Stephenson & Co.’s New York City Guide For May, 1863. [cover title]

Rare 1863 New York street guide with folding map and dense trade ads

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A rare surviving example of a Civil War-era New York street guide, this work was issued just months before the 1863 Draft Riots and features a folding map of lower Manhattan backed with dense, illustrated trade advertisements. Though labeled the “Eighth Edition,” the claim is likely spurious; this appears to be the only known copy.

The map spans from the Battery north to Washington Square and highlights major streets and landmarks. Its verso is filled with trade advertisements: illustrations of medical equipment from Hagerty Bros., including breast pumps, nipple shields, pomade bottles, and cupping glasses; copper weather vanes from Thos. W. Brown; and frames and mirrors from Philip Michel. Peter Cooper’s gelatin product is also noted, alongside a detailed ad for Coolidge & Adams, wholesale botanic druggists dealing in essential oils, Shaker herbs, roots, barks, and extracts. The face of the map features an illustrated advertisement for “Gray’s Hair Restorative,” located at 203 Broadway.

The guidebook serves a dual purpose, beginning with its commercial role as a directory of local advertisers offering goods and services such as baking powder, books, stationery, metallic coffins, India rubber clothing, Nepaul coffee, perfumeries, photographs on glass, a directory of physicians, sewing machines, spectacles, steam engines, and specialized trades like writing on glass and medical labeling.

The second purpose is civic: it orients visitors to essential city services and public institutions, including hotels, eating saloons, hack services, Wall Street banks, ferry routes, telegraph offices, express companies, medical schools, and court locations. Points of interest and amusements are also catalogued, such as the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Dusseldorf Gallery of Paintings, Five Points House of Industry, the Lunatic Asylum at West 117th Street and Tenth Avenue, the New-York Typographical Society, Barnum’s Museum, Bryant’s Minstrels, the Bowery Theatre at 35 Bowery, Laura Keene’s Theatre, the New Bowery Theater at 72 Bowery, and Niblo’s Garden.

Finally, the rear wrapper features an illustrated view and advertisement for the Western Hotel on Cortland Street, operated by the Winchester Family and promoting its offerings of “Fine Rooms and Parlors for Ladies and Gentlemen.”

Price: $450.00