Plan of the City of Washington with Federal Eagle Cartouche
From The Literary Magazine, London, 1793 - Frame: 11 ¼ x 13 ¼ inches; sight: 9 ⅜ x 11 ⅜ inches
 
A scarce reduced-format engraved plan of the newly established federal capital, depicting the City of Washington with its early street grid, principal avenues, and public reservations laid out along the Potomac and Eastern Branch. Based on the Ellicott–L’Enfant plan, this 1793 issue is among the earliest printed maps of Washington, published as the federal city was only beginning to emerge from survey and speculation into physical form.
 
Published in the January 1793 issue of The Literary Magazine, the map is distinguished by the engraved federal eagle surmounting the title cartouche, among the earliest appearances of the national eagle on a printed map of Washington and a striking expression of the new republic’s visual identity. Published only a decade after independence and seven years before the federal government’s move to Washington, it stands as both an early plan of the capital and a compelling emblem of national ambition.
 
Condition: Very fine; not examined out of frame.