[Washington, D.C./Andrew Ellicott]. Plan of the City of Washington in the Territory of Columbia ceded by the States of Virginia and Maryland to the United States of America, and by them established as the Seat of their Government, after the Year MDCCC. Below title: “Engraved by Thackara & Vallance Philada. 1792.” Plate mark: 20 ¼” x 28 ¾”. Sheet: 20 3/8” x 29 5/8”. Thick laid paper. Matches the image provided by Reps (folio 9) and Miller (pp44, 46-47), although the width of its plate mark is greater than the 27 inches called for by Wheat & Brun (531), Reps, and Miller. The soundings are present. 3 folds or neat storage creases (2 vertical and 1 horizontal), each fully split with minor losses along the splits. A few small stains. Worn and nicked along edges of sheet. Tape mark to portions of the left vertical fold. In a later case. Tape repair to upper right section's verso. The upper right section of the map was mounted to a leaf of the case after the tape repair was applied. The case is quarter leather and marbled paper covered boards, with a front cover label printed with the map’s title. The case’s exterior is worn, and its covers are separated. The case also contains a 2-page preface, “The Capitol, Or Congr[ess] Hall at Washington [in] the United States of America.” The 2-page preface closes “C. A. Busby./ London, 1823.” The 2 leaves of the preface are separated. Wear, creasing, and tears to margins and the preface’s title (resulting in the loss of a few letters of the preface's title). Half the verso of the preface is mounted to a leaf of the case. After the preface are 2 folding plates (a plan of the Capitol’s first floor and a profile view of the Capitol’s exterior, both by C. A. Busby, dated “1819” and “1823”). The folding plates have a little creasing and edgewear. 1st folding plate has 2 inkstains on its verso (not noticeable from image side).

Shows Ellicott's planned city grid, with over 1100 city blocks numbered. Text panel at lower right (“Breadth of the Streets”). Purchased at the auction of the Evelyn Walsh McLean collection. McLean (1886-1947) was the daughter of an immigrant miner who became a millionaire. She bought the Hope Diamond for $180,000 in 1911. The Hope Diamond was said have a curse, and was the supposed cause of her son’s death in a traffic accident. McLean was a close friend of first lady Florence Harding and Alice Roosevelt Longworth (daughter of Theodore Roosevelt).