Topographical Map of the Original District of Columbia and Environs: Showing the Fortifications around the City of Washington," by E. G. Arnold. With its pastel shades highlighting the several wards of Washington DC, water courses, and the original boundary of the District of Columbia including the 30 square miles of Northern Virginia that was ceded back to the Commonwealth in 1846, this map is quite a lovely display piece.

How rare is this map? According to the Spring/Summer 2003 (Vol. 15, No. 1) issue of Washington History, two days after the map went on sale in various shops in 1862, the War Department confiscated most copies, as was the copper plate that was used to print the original maps. In addition, the Department obtained the names of purchasers and seized the maps from the homes of private citizens to prevent it from falling into Confederate hands insofar as the map identifies and locates forts that defended Washington, DC during the Civil War.