PREFACE
 

PURPOSE AND METHOD

THE Iconography of Manhattan Island represents the re¬
sult of a two-fold purpose: to collect, to condense, and to
arrange systematically and in just proportion, within the con¬
fines of a single work, the facts and incidents which are of the great¬
est consequence and interest in the history of New York City, with special
reference to its topographical features and to the physical development of
the island; and to illustrate this material by the best reproductions ob¬
tainable of important and interesting contemporary maps, plans, views,
and* documents; in other words, to produce a book dealing with the
physical rather than with the personal side of the city's history, which
shall be at the same time useful and interesting to the student of history,
the antiquarian, the collector, and the general public. It was originally
hoped that this end could be accomplished within the compass of a
single volume; but as the work progressed and its scope naturally broad¬
ened, the amount of available material of a quality to deserve inclusion
proved to be so great that this ideal was reluctantly abandoned, as im¬
possible of accomplishment. The general catalogue of the New York
Public Library alone, under the heading of "New York City," was
found to contain more than 10,000 titles, representing probably half that
number of separate books dealing in one way or another with the city.