For the visual historians among us, An Atlas of Rare City Maps is a cartographic feast. It presents 40 map plans of cities in Europe, Russia, the United States, and Asia--all published in the 19th century by England's Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and all commissioned and drawn within a period of 13 years. See Munich, Calcutta, Dublin, and Warsaw, Madrid, Moscow, and New York as they once were, and relish the hand-colored, hand-lettered steel engravings. The maps are artistic gems, representative of an era of skill, and reproduced in fine detail.


From Library Journal
Princeton Architectural, dist. by Chronicle. 1997. 102p. illus. maps. LC Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New Yorker
"Melville C. Branch's 'An Atlas of Rare City Maps,' which offers city plans, commissioned by England's Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, of forty nineteenth century metropolises. In these hand colored engravings, which the Society described as 'of unexampled cheapness, yet finished in the best manner,' historically battered cities like Warsaw and Calcutta have never looked better."


Journal of the International Map Collector Society (UK)
Its sub-title 'Comparative Urban Design, 1830-1842', gives a better indication of the content of this second, revised, edition, of an impressive book first published in 1978. Many of us will doubtless have come across the publications of that encouragingly named 'Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge', and 40 of the city plans produced by the Society between 1830 and 1844, and here reproduced, are the basis of this study. This is a publication of high quality, and an important contribution to the study of city mapping and urban development in the 19th century.


Edith Newhall, New York Magazine, Dec 22-29, 1997
The first person in the world to receive a Ph.D. in urban planning (from Harvard, in 1949) evaluates the designs of the world's older cities in this collection of mid-nineteenth-century hand-colored city maps and plans.


Hugh Pearman, Sunday Times Bookshop, London, 30 November 1997
A book that sounds as if it is far too specialised for its own good, but is actually brilliantly accessible....A large-format book by an elderly Californian professor that does exactly what it says on the label. From Antwerp to Vienna, Dublin to St. Petersburg, Birmingham to Stockholm, there they all are: 40 city maps, each with an accompanying text. The smart thing is that all these maps are directly comparable because all were originally hand-produced by England's splendidly named Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. It is a book to lose yourself in, particularly when you get to Calcutta (then as now one fo the oddest and densest cities in the world. Branch's little histories facing each map are delightful.


Men's Journal, Dec 1997/Jan 1998
An Atlas of Rare City Maps is by far the most strangely beautiful book I've seen in years. It's composed of amazingly detailed, finely engraved maps, dating from the 1830s, of European, North American, and Asian cities, with expert commentary to explain it all.


Gary Willis, Preservation, Nov/Dec 1997
A triumph of publishing reproduction....Those familiar with the cities depicted will find it easy to be drawn in and into these maps.


Carter Wiseman, ARTnews, Nov 1997
First published two decades ago, this visually delicious volume has been reissued with an updated commentary by Melville C. Branch....The maps are works of art in themselves and are a reminder of how organicallyl the great cities of the world have evolved...


Village Voice
Exquisite four-color steel engravings... efficient texts describe each city's history, demography, and planning trends.


Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times
A superbly illustrated study of the history, nature, and patterns of growth of 40 well-known urban centers in 19 countries, tracing their development up to the 1840s.


New York
"The first person in the world to receive a Ph.D in urban planning(from Harvard, in 1949) evaluates the designs of the world's older cities in this collection of mid-nineteenth-century hand-colored city maps and plans."


Book Description
The map-plans in this collection of forty cities in Europe, Russia, the United States, and Asia were first published in the mid- nineteenth century by England's Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. These maps were all commissioned and drawn within a period of thirteen years, presenting a unique opportunity to compare urban development among 40 cities in 19 countries at one moment in time. An exquisite feast for the eye, the hand-colored, hand-lettered steel engravings are artistic masterpieces in themselves, representative of an era of exceptional artisanal skill. They are reproduced here in fine detail in an oversized format.

The Atlas of Rare City Maps includes both well-known European and American cities such as Amsterdam, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, and Venice, as well as smaller cities like Calcutta, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Lisbon, Marseille, Parma, and Stockholm. An introductory essay by Melville C. Branch discusses the historical evolution of urban design, and provides a background on engraving techniques. Branch also evaluates each map-plan, remarking on the details of each engraving and the evolution of the forms of the cities, their histories, and demographic characteristics. This rare collection first appeared in its modern form twenty years ago in a limited edition (Arno Press); long out of print, this book has been much sought after by architects, urban planners, and map enthusiasts everywhere. Princeton Architectural Press is proud to make available once again this valuable resource. The first in the world to receive a doctorate in planning (Harvard, 1949), Melville C. Branch has been a pioneer in his field for half a century. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the School of Urban Planning and Development, University of Southern California, where he has served since 1966. He is the author of over twenty books on urban and regional planning, including Planning Urban Environment and Comprehensive Planning: General Theories and Principles.