Hammond’s New Guide Map of Manhattan and the Bronx [Jewish Tourism Map]

Classified List of Places of Jewish Interest in New York.

This rare map of New York City was published in the early 1910s, originally as part of a Jewish Encyclopedia. A standard street plan of Manhattan and the Bronx has been overlaid with dozens of places of Jewish interest, including clubs, synagogues, publishing houses, theaters, and educational institutions. The three historic cemeteries, all still maintained by Congregation Shearith Israel, are marked as closed.

The base map by C.S. Hammond & Company is dated 1912 in fine print near the bottom, but the overprinting was applied in 1913 or later, as that was the year that David Kessler opened his popular establishment in the Yiddish Theater District, at a time when Jewish culture was flourishing. Due largely to persecution and economic hardships overseas, the Jewish population of New York City skyrocketed from 80,000 in 1880 to 1.5 million in 1920, at which point they comprised over a quarter of the city’s inhabitants.

Despite the massive growth of potential customers, Jewish guide maps such as this are uncommon. A similar edition, using a base map by Bornay & Co., is located at the New York Public Library and has been previously sold by Barry Ruderman Rare Maps. I’ve been unable to locate other market records or known copies of this variant by C.S. Hammond & Co., though it shares the same Jewish Encyclopedia plate number (V. IX.)

Sources: OCLC# 1326276938; Fordham University; Barry Ruderman Rare Maps; Jewish Women’s Archive