Early Guidebooks

[Samuel Latham Mitchill]. The Picture of New-York; or, the Traveller’s Guide through the Commercial Metropolis of the United States.
New York: Published by Isaac Riley and Co., Sold by Brisban and Brannan, City-Hotel, Broadway, 1807

Mitchill’s book is generally considered the ﬁrst guide to New York City. He mentions how inaccurate some of the geographies are regarding New York, and cites the Picture of London, Oxford Guide, and Tableau de Paris as examples of what he is trying to accomplish. Topography, commercial activity, municipal government and regulations, benevolent organizations, literary institutions, and amusements are all covered; only religious and military institutions are not. There are no illustrations, but there is an intaglio-engraved map. Mitchill was a leading citizen, being a doctor and Columbia professor.

[Thomas N. Stanford]. The Citizens Directory and Strangers Guide through the City of New York.
New York: Printed by George Long for Thomas N. Stanford, 150 Pearl Street, 1814

The ﬁrst 69 pages of 446 are a good description of New York and its institutions. Stanford also issued those 69 pages in 1814 as a separate publication, A Concise Description of the City of New York. Topics include Early History and General Description; Churches; Markets; Police; Fire Department; Banks; Public Amusements &c.; Literary Institutions &c.; and Benevolent and Charitable Institutions. A page on “Literary Publications, Bookselling, etc.” states that there are more than 30 bookstores, while the number of printing offices of consequence is 20.

Edmund M. Blunt. Blunt’s Stranger’s Guide to the City of New-York.
New York: Printed for and Published by Edmund M. Blunt at the Quadrant, 1817

Blunt’s is the second guidebook of New York, with a signiﬁcant map engraved by W. Hooker and three intaglio-engraved views. A chart shows the population of the leading cities of the East Coast, with New York City surpassing Philadelphia by 1810. Blunt notes that the bookselling trade has “greatly increased . . . and is much beneﬁtted by the duty on imported books and paper.” Other interesting features include listings of 15 manufacturing companies and eight hotels. Six pages of advertisements at the end are the beginning of what would eventually be a signiﬁcant part of guidebooks: advertising.

James Hardie, A. M. The Description of the City of New-York . . .
New York: Printed and Published by Samuel Marks, 63 Vesey-Street, 1827

The book is in two parts, the ﬁrst being a history of the City in 144 pages (of 360), followed by a description of the City for the remainder of the book. It is a remarkably comprehensive description on a larger-format page than the other early guides and descriptions. An Appendix explains that Hardie died while working on the text and was at page 276. It was subsequently completed by another, perhaps the publisher. There are no illustrations except for a large map, which has two building elevations, the Merchants Exchange and City Hall.

[Andrew T. Goodrich]. The Picture of New York, and Stranger’s Guide to the Commer-cial Metropolis of the United States.
New York: Published by A. T. Goodrich, No. 124 Broadway [1828].

According to I. N. P. Stokes in The Iconography of Manhattan Island (vol. 6, p. 267), Goodrich essentially republished Blunt’s guide in 1818, with some updating for an 1825 edition; but for the 1828 edition, there was much revision and considerable expansion. This is the ﬁrst guidebook with a signiﬁcant number of illustrations: eight intaglio-engraved views and two wood-engraved views, as well as two maps, a large one of New York engraved by J. F. Morin and a small “New York and Adjacent Country” engraved by B. Tanner.

[ J. Disturnell]. New-York as It Is, in 1837: Containing a General Description of the City of New-York, List of Officers, Public Institutions, and other Useful Information. Including the Public Officers &c. of the City of Brooklyn. Accompanied by a Correct Map.
New York: Published by J. Disturnell, [1837].

John Disturnell was a map publisher who started his New-York as It Is series in 1833 with a much smaller volume in both physical size and page count. This 1837 edition is the largest of the run and has a folding map and one intaglio-engraved view, “New-York University,” drawn and engraved by Robert Hinshelwood. It also contains a 124-page Classiﬁed Mercantile Directory for New York and Brooklyn. After 10 to 15 years of publishing New York City books and maps, he concentrated on New York State and Western U.S. and Mexican maps and guides.

O. L. Holley, Editor. A Description of the City of New York: with a Brief Account of the Cities, Towns, Villages and Places of Resort within Thirty Miles . . .
New York: Published by J. Disturnell, 102 Broadway, 1847

After the New-York as It Is series, Disturnell teamed up with O. L. Holley to produce this volume. Following the description of New York, page 89 starts “Excursions Around the City of New York,” which constitutes 24 of the guide’s 114 pages. There are two folding maps and two intaglio-engraved plates. The book is notable for the remarkably avant-garde decorative cloth binding with gold stamping.

W. Williams. Appleton’s New York City and Vicinity Guide: Giving a Full and Accurate Description of the Great Metropolis and Environs . . .
New York: D. Appleton & Company, 200 Broadway, 1849

There are six wood-engraved illustrations and a map in this thorough guide by one of the City’s leading publishers. There is no advertising except for Appleton’s own books, including guides to California and the Gold Rush region. The gold-stamped cover is one of the most attractive of its kind.

E. Porter Belden, M.A. New-York: Past, Present, and Future, Comprising a History of the City of New York, a Description of its Present Condition, and an Estimate of its Future Increase.
Second Edition, New York: Published by G. P. Putnam, for the Proprietors . . . 1849

A more substantial volume than other guides or descriptions of its era, this book is notable for having 17 intaglio-engraved views of New York and a map. It is a companion to Belden’s Model of New York, a wooden model of New York around 1845–46 that took a year to make and is pictured and described in the book. The ﬁrst 120 pages of the volume are a description of New York; 24 pages picture and describe the Model of New York; these are followed by The American Advertiser, 171 pages of typographically interesting ads.

Solyman Brown, Editor. The Citizen and Strangers’ Pictorial and Business Directory for the City of New York and its Vicinity 1853.
New York: Charles Spalding & Co. Publishers, 307 & 333 Broadway, [1853].

Numerous wood engravings of both civic and commercial buildings, combined with a profusion of interesting typeforms, make this volume unusually appealing. Primarily an advertising vehicle, it was an expensive undertaking because of the illustrations, and there were no subsequent editions.

Albert Norton. Norton’s Hand Book of New York City, containing 44 Engravings of the Most Celebrated Public Buildings in the City.
New York: Published by Albert Norton, Two Hundred and Tenth Thousand, 1859

Norton’s Hand Book is mainly a promotional piece for Bullard’s Panorama of New York City. The panorama moved before the audience for nearly two hours with extended perspective views of the buildings on both sides of upwards of 50 streets, constituting 41 miles of the City. The pamphlet has close to 40 large wood engravings of buildings, crudely printed but nonetheless interesting.

Phelps’ New York City Guide; Being a Pocket Directory for Strangers and Citizens to the Prominent Objects of Interest in the Great Commercial Metropolis, and Conductor to its Envi-rons, with Engravings of Public Buildings.
New York: Ensign, Bridgman, & Fanning, 156 William St. 1854

This is the ﬁrst of three major forms of the Phelps Guides that were published from 1854 to 1873. “Conductor to its Environs” refers to six pages on Brooklyn and another 15 pages with short paragraphs on towns all over the metropolitan area. The Phelps Guides all had large, usually colored, maps of Manhattan. This ﬁrst version has a beautiful gold-stamped cover design.