Matthew A. Lotter, after Nicholas Scull and George Heap. “A Plan of the City and Environs of Philadelphia.” Included in Lotter’s, Atlas Geographique De Cent et Huit Carte Generales et Speciales. [Augsburg/Nuremburg: Homann Heirs, 1778]

There was a tremendous amount of interest in both Europe and England for up to date information concerning the war in the American colonies.  Philadelphia was central to the revolution and therefore detailed cartographic surveys of the city and surrounding areas were invaluable. This demand was soon met by publishers in England, Germany and France with various reissues of the Scull and Heap map originally published in 1752. The German cartographer Matthew Lotter published this map of Philadelphia in 1777. His map describes the city’s formal grid plan situated between the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers, as well as the outlying ‘country seats’ labeled with old Philadelphia family names. Lotter used an elevation of the classically designed State House (Independence Hall) to give his map gravitates and sense of symmetry. This original map in excellent condition is one of a handful of existing Revolutionary War era maps of Philadelphia available today.

Copperplate engraving with early hand color

29 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches plate mark

Archival mat and frame.

Ref:  Tooley, ''The Mapping Of America,'' 132 (p214), Snyder, City of Independence, p.101 #48 fig, 46 & colorplate 4