Hales, John G. A Survey of Boston and its Vicinity; Shewing the Distance from the Old State House, at the Head of State Street, to all the Towns and Villages Not Exceeding Fifteen Miles Therefrom; Also The Intermediate Distance from One Place to Another, Together with a short Topographical Sketch of the Country. The Whole Taken from Actual Survey and Lineal Measure in the Years 1818, 1819, and 1820. Boston: Printed by Ezra Lincoln, 1821. Hardcover. 156 pp. 1 folding map of Boston's vicinities. [Bound With] Apes, William. Indian Nullification of the Unconstitutional Laws of Massachusetts. Relative to The Marshpee Tribe: or The Pretended Riot Explained. Boston: Press of Jonathan Howe, No. 39 Merchants Row, 1835. Frontis. 168 pages (frontis. included in page-count). Sm 12mo (7" x 4.5"), later full tan cloth, with gilt-stamped leather title label at spine. Inscriptions of F.B. Sanborn on ffep. Bookplate of one Robert Humphrey Montgomery on front paste-down. CONDITION: Good, minimal wear to cover, text block with

Sammelband comprising two works, bequeathed by Transcendentalist Ellery Channing to historian of Transcendentalism and supporter of John Brown, F.B. Sanborn. Inscription on a preliminary in Sanborn's hand reading: "F.B. Sanborn 1901, Bought by Ellery Channing of D.C. Colesworthy in Boston, Bequeathed by E.C. to F.B.S. 1901." Further inscribed by Sanborn on flyleaf: "Two very curious brochures here brought together. The distances and roads from Boston are still (1912) mainly correct. I was on Marshpee with Morton Watson driving over from Plymouth via Sandwich about 1884."

Hales' Survey of Boston relates closely to his mapping of the region. One of New England's greatest mapmakers, John Groves Hales (ca. 1785-1832) was born in England, where he became a civil engineer and surveyor, prior to emigrating to Portsmouth, New Hampshire around 1810. His first published maps appeared in 1813. These were Map of the Compact Part of Portsmouth and A Map of Upper and Lower Canada, both carrying a Portsmouth imprint, although engraved by Boston engraver Thomas Wightman. Perhaps seeking a larger market for his next map, Hales turned his attention to the south, publishing Map of Boston in the State of Massachusetts in 1814, the most detailed map of the city published up to that time. His most important map followed in 1819-Map of Boston and Vicinity. 

In addition to the aforementioned maps, Hales attempted an improved map of the state of Massachusetts, a project which failed due to a lack of official support, and possibly as a result of Hales' conviction on charges of forgery in 1823. He also published The County of Essex From Actual Survey (1825) and undertook numerous surveys for corporations and towns. Hales' manuscript town surveys are held by the Massachusetts State Archives. A number of these were printed and published by Pendleton's Lithography of Boston in the early 1830s, including maps of Lexington, Concord, Holliston, Pembroke, and Northampton.

According to the Bibliography of American Literature the authorship of The Indian Nullification is "uncertain. William Apes was the author of several other books, and was certainly capable of writing this one. It is, however, sometimes ascribed to [William Joseph] Snelling."

REFERENCES: BAL 18425; American Imprints, 30095; Littlefield, D. Biobibliography of Native American writers, 1772-1924, 163N.