A Unique Exhibit Of Both Art And History Opens In Boston

In 1882, publisher George H. Adams & Sons put together a tremendously large book on the United States' industrial might and stuffed it images and maps from around the country. The book was far too large for casual reading on a stage coach or on a train as it measured some 25 inches tall, 18 inches wide and weighed around 40 pounds. 

It contained some 500 pages with over two thousand illustrations and lengthy literary exposés written in distinctive Victorian English. The author did his best to cover as many new inventions, technologies, businesses, buildings, institutions, machines, gadgets, entrepreneurs as he could in the lead up to its publication. 

A close reading of the book shows just how long it took the author to compile all of this information in an age when information was slow moving and hard to come by. Many companies that the book highlights had in fact already gone out of business by the time it had gone to print. Too bad there was no internet to do a quick search for any updates.

Due to the sheer size of the book it is unknown how many editions were printed. At present only two other copies are known to exist. And the third known copy is now on display at the Once Modern Gallery in Brookline, MA at Boston Realty Online (172 Harvard Street).

The pages have been painstakingly removed and preserved by local artist Leonie Little-Lex and have been curated to highlight the city of Boston and New England as they once were. Many of the illustrations show advertisements for products such as rubber cement and local pickle companies as well as Boston's preeminent hotels. Many of these hotels, long since deceased, come back to life in striking ink illustrations with antiquated descriptions. Prints of local business such as the old Boston Iron Works, which sat on what was the old inlet shoreline of South Boston, is on display as well with its original description by the author still intact. 

Perhaps the most intriguing pieces on display are the turn of the century full page maps. One in particular is a world map that looks something like a treasure map you'd use as a children when pretending to search for gold, or if you grew up in Alaska, actually searching for gold. It's craggy coastlines sketch out mysterious lands; mysterious only because they no longer exist by name. Turkestan, Arabia, Prussia and Persia took up large swaths of land in the Middle East. The United Kingdom had not yet united and was simply called the British Isles. Most of Canada was still just known as British Territory and much of China's northeast region was still the semi-independent country of Manchuria. Rugged topography lays the foundation for sepia-tinted countries, densely populated with as many names as the author could fit in. The map's oceans are covered with vast numbers of shipping lanes, islands, atolls and tidal currents. It is truly an impressive map.

Other maps include the United States with hand painted elements indicating the sites of known volcanoes along the San Andreas Fault Line and a map of Massachusetts. The illustrations have been matted and framed for display and are available for purchase. For more information on visiting the gallery head to their homepage oncemodern.com or contact info@oncemodern.com.