Map of Burlington. Vermont, 1853

As with all Presdee & Edwards maps, the very large scale of 16 rods (264 feet) to the inch is sufficient to provide immense detail, including not only the street plan and rail lines, but property lines, landowners, and the placement and footprints of individual structures. Of particular interest are the Lake Champlain wharves and the rail facilities–reflecting Burlington’s 19th-century position as a major shipping hub-as well as the grounds of the University of Vermont at far right.

The vignettes include the University of Vermont, the very fine residences of J.N. Pomeroy, John H. Peck, H.W. Catlin, John Peck, Sion E. Howard, J.W. Hickok, and Carlos Baxter, the Grass Mount and the 'Bank Block'. At left is a long list of well over 100 subscribers, representing Burlington’s business and professional elite as well as a wide variety of trades.

Presdee & Edwards were surveyors and–for a brief time-mapmakers and map publishers based in New York and Jersey City. Between 1852 and 1854 they produced at least 19 maps of New England towns, including two in Massachusetts (Northampton and Greenfield), four in New Hampshire, twelve in Vermont and one in Maine.