Boston and
This charming map is described as a “bird’s-eye” view, but it is more like a bird’-eye view as seen through a fish-eye lens. An image of mountains using the same kind of perspective appears in a plate in volume I of Horace-Bénedict de Saussure’s Voyages dans les Alpes (1779), but one can only speculate whether this image had any influence on the design of the present Mount Washington view. This kind of perspective map may not have been uncommon. There is a map of
Other states and editions
This map was issued three times over a very short span of years, and each edition reflected changes on the summit. All bear the date 1902. The editions can be distinguished in the following way:
1st edition: 11 buildings on summit, observation tower present, no text on reverse
2nd edition: 10 buildings on summit, no text on reverse
3rd edition: 9 buildings on summit, text on reverse.
Click here for a larger PDF version of this map that will allow you zoom in for detail.
