1917 Old Boston Taverns & Tavern Clubs Drake Watkins Fold-Out 1722 Map For Sale

This is a 1917 expanded illustrated edition of Old Boston Taverns and Tavern Clubs by Samuel Adams Drake, an especially appealing book for collectors of Boston history, taverniana and early American drinking culture.

The full title page identifies it as:

Old Boston Taverns and Tavern Clubs
by Samuel Adams Drake
New Illustrated Edition
with accounts of “Cole’s Inn,” “The Bakers’ Arms,” and “Golden Ball” by Walter K. Watkins
Boston: W. A. Butterfield, 59 Bromfield Street, 1917

The original edition appeared in 1886; this 1917 Butterfield edition substantially expanded and illustrated the work.

It runs about 124 pages and covers Boston taverns as social institutions, early ordinaries, taverns during the Revolution, tavern-sign humor, individual establishments including Cole’s Inn, the Bakers’ Arms, Golden Ball and Hancock Tavern, and a useful alphabetical list of early Boston taverns and their owners.

Your copy retains the large folding map at the rear:

“The Town of Boston in New England by Capt. John Bonner, 1722.”

This is a 1917 reproduction/facsimile of the historic 1722 Bonner map, not an original 1722 map. Complete copies with this fold-out are more desirable, and current bookseller descriptions specifically call attention to the map when present.

Your photograph shows the map opening to a substantial size and appearing essentially complete. That is one of the book's best selling features.

I would grade your copy about Good+ to Very Good-.

The brown paper-covered boards show noticeable age wear, rubbing, scuffs and some edge/corner wear. The brown cloth spine is still present and reasonably solid, with wear at the head and foot. The frontispiece and nearby pages show some foxing and age spotting.

The interior otherwise appears fairly clean and readable. Most importantly, the illustrations are present in the photographed sections and the large folding map survives.

This is clearly an unrestored, honest 109-year-old copy rather than a cosmetically pristine one.