A historic French map, along with more than 1,000 other rare maps and images, have been donated to the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon by a noted New York collector. The maps, some of them one-of-kind, drawn in pen, ink and watercolor, come from the collection of Richard H. Brown, an author and expert on Revolutionary War-era maps and images. They are part science, part art and part narrative history.
“I constantly … try to bridge this link between map and art, because so many of the people who were doing them were artists,” said Brown, the retired founder of a New York investment firm. “They may not have been Picassos. But they were pretty talented artists in their own right.” The bulk of the collection, estimated to be worth about $12 million, arrived at the library late last month. It will eventually be available to scholars, in person, and later some of the items will go on public display, library officials said. Most of the pieces have already been digitized and are online. [Source: WashingtonPost.com]