Description
Ferdinand Mayer (born c. 1817) was a German-born lithographer who worked in New York City from 1845 on, initially associated with Nagel & Mayer, then with Mayer & Korff, and finally operating as Ferdinand Mayer & Sons from 1854 to around 1877. Mayer was the lithographer of several important maps and view of New York City. Beginning in 1855, he produced some maps by the prominent surveyor Henry Francis Walling. H.F. Walling’s Map Establishment was located a few doors down from Mayer’s 96 Fulton Street location for two years during the 1850s before moving a few blocks away. In about 1865, Mayer published Egbert L. Vielé’s Topographical Map of the City of New York.
Full title: “Map of the City of New York. Lithographed expressly for the Homestead Fire Insurance Company. Population of New York City 750,000. Lithographed by Ferd. Mayer & Co. 96 Fulton St.”
Condition: This example was issued as a wall map. The original shellac and rollers were removed and the map rebacked on canvas with cloth selvedge on all edges. It is generally in very good condition, with the usual toning, wear, soft creases. There are a few small scattered cracks and restored abrasions to the surface, as is common for varnished wall maps.
References:
Groce, George C. and Wallace, David H. The New-York Historical Society’s Dictionary of Artists in America 1564-1860. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969. p. 434.
Peters, Harry T. America on Stone. U.S.: Doubleday, Doran, 1931. pp. 275-276.
Ristow, Walter W. American Maps and Mapmakers: Commercial Cartography in the Nineteenth Century. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1985. pp. 327, 331-332.
“Topographical Map of the City of New York.” American Memory, Library of Congress. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3804n.ct002003 (3 November 2008).
