I'm looking for a map...

March 11, 2016 4:00 PM

Help me find a map of the United States from the perspective of a Bostonian. I saw this map in 2007 and haven't seen it since, so it may not be in print anymore. I've been thinking about it for almost 10 years. Please help me find it!

Picture a map of the United States from the perspective of a Bostonian or someone from the East coast. Sort of like the maps on this page, or this map, or this map, only funnier and prettier, obviously.

All the important places (to a Bostonian) are outlined precisely, while places farther out are more blob-like. For example, Boston itself would have the general outline of Boston, Cambridge, and the Charles River, and then to the left there would be a little bit of space and a big blob with "California" written inside it. There could have been a Maine blob and a Canada blob, and I'm sure something less blob-like for Cape Cod.

It wasn't a very detailed map, with roads or places of interest, it was generally outlines of states/areas filled in with different colors. My general recollection is that the colors were muted. I think it was in portrait orientation, but I'm not 100% certain. I'm guessing it was purchased in or around Boston in 2007 or before, since it belonged to a Boston college student.

Have you seen this poster? Can you suggest some search terms that might help me find it?

posted by stripesandplaid to Grab Bag (14 answers total)

Sounds inspired by a similar New Yorker cover showing NYC.
posted by showbiz_liz at 4:02 PM on March 11, 2016

This seems like more of a precedent than the actual map you're looking for, but just in case...one of the maps from Kevin Lynch's Image of the City? Here's an MIT library write-up.
posted by chocotaco at 4:14 PM on March 11, 2016

Someone else seems to think that your Boston poster exists. MarkB in the comments here says:

There was a poster back in the 1970s that showed the Bostonian’s View of America. Along with the detailed Boston and Cambridge in the foreground, it showed Worcester and Holy Cross, New York City, Chicago and the Mississippi in the middle, and then San Francisco and Hollywood on the west coast. I’ve looked for it a few times online, and never found it. It was always featured prominently in all the bookstores and record shops that sold posters.
posted by crazy with stars at 4:18 PM on March 11, 2016

I know this exists. I remember this poster. Not that my google fu is working, but yes, this is a real thing.
posted by bearwife at 4:27 PM on March 11, 2016

Here's a ripoff of the famous New Yorker cover from Boston's perspective, called "The Bostonian View of the World." I link to an ebay auction of a jigsaw puzzle because of the high-quality images but it looks like posters were sold of it as well.

I don't think this is quite what you're looking for though -- you're looking for an overhead map, right? Not a perspective drawing of the United States? Something like this "Massachusetts: A View of the World"?

Both of these were made by Harvey Hutter & Co. Inc. If you're remembering something else it might be worthwhile to see what else they did.
posted by crazy with stars at 4:29 PM on March 11, 2016

Are you sure it was if the entire US? I found this one which is how Bostonians see Massachusetts.
posted by bowmaniac at 4:37 PM on March 11, 2016

Wow, you all are awesome! Showbiz_liz you got us off to a great start. It has to be a Boston version of that New Yorker cover. It looks a little bit different than I remember, but 10 years will do that. I actually found some plates and a mug, along with that puzzle, on ebay. No poster yet though! Thanks for all the ideas an links!
posted by stripesandplaid at 4:40 PM on March 11, 2016

It has to be this one, right? Found because I remember seeing this on the Boston Reddit too.
posted by peacheater at 4:45 PM on March 11, 2016

Here's the poster. Sold out unfortunately.
posted by crazy with stars at 4:55 PM on March 11, 2016

It isn't quite that poster, crazy with stars. Though that image is all I can find too. What I remember is what stripesandplaid describes -- Boston (the Hub) at the center, with a small blob that is New York, and a gap to the small strip of California, and in the other direction a little bit of ocean and a strip that is Europe. It is like the poster and the New Yorker cover, but Boston is centered, not just in the foreground.
posted by bearwife at 5:11 PM on March 11, 2016

Is it this?
posted by littlesq at 5:36 PM on March 11, 2016

Oy, I misread your reply. I found a poster of "The Bostonian View of the World" that was sold some time ago. Looks like it's out of print, so guess your best bet is to save a search on eBay and hope one pops up for sale someday.
posted by littlesq at 6:10 PM on March 11, 2016

I'd ask at the BPL's map library.
posted by avocet at 7:42 PM on March 11, 2016

There was a vogue for these things after the huge popularity of Saul Steinberg's cover for The New Yorker. Googling Steinberg doesn't bring them up though, so I guess they were me_too items.
posted by SemiSalt at 11:36 AM on March 12, 2016