Folded in, facing p. 162 of Caleb H. Snow’s Geography of Boston, Boston, 1830, is “A Map of Boston, County of Suffolk, and the Adjacent Towns, A. Bowen Sc.” The original engraving is 12" x 12" and as reproduced here has been cropped at the sides. Excepting only Weston, a few miles beyond the map’s western edge, the map encompasses the entire sphere of Charles Francis Adams’ activities, 1829–1832. That the map was drawn or redrawn only a short time before publication is clear from its inclusion of such recent constructions as Western Avenue over the Mill Dam in the Back Bay to Brook-line, 1821; the Granite Railway in Quincy, 1826; and the Warren Bridge and Mill Pond triangle, 1828 (see below, p. 305–309). The map records other features of special relevance to Charles Francis Adams’ activities and those of his family at this period: the route of the Middlesex Canal through Charlestown and Medford (see below, p. 153), “Prest. Adam’s Seat” and “Payne’s i.e. Penn’s Hill” in Quincy, &c.

Abel Bowen (1790–1850), born in New York State, came to Boston as an apprentice to his uncle Daniel Bowen, a printer. By 1812 he opened his own shop as an engraver on copper and wood, pioneering in introducing the craft of wood-engraving in Boston. Many of the next generation of Boston artists and engravers were trained by him. After lithography was brought to Boston by John Pendleton, Bowen made use of that technique as well. Bowen was responsible for the preparation of the illustrations in a number of books relating to Boston, its history and appearance, and for the publication of some of them himself. The most important of these were Caleb H. Snow’s History of Boston, issued in parts in 1825, in which were seventeen full-page copperplates and woodcuts; Bowen’s Picture of Boston, 1829; and Snow’s Geography of Boston, 1830. He was the principal figure in the “Boston Bewick Company,” which began in 1834 to bring out The American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge, publication of which continued through three volumes to 1837, all heavily illustrated, mostly with woodcuts. The illustrations of buildings in Boston and vicinity which follow are, with one exception, selected from Bowen’s work. See the article “Abel Bowen” by William Henry Whitmore in Bostonian Society, Publications, 1 (1886–1888):29–56, with illustrations following.