Barn Find - Atlas of Delaware County, Pennsylvania

Miller, William S.. Farm Line and Borough Atlas of Delaware County, Penna.. E.W Smith, 1892.

In the world of car collecting, when someone finds a rare car tucked away in a garage or barn, it is known as a barn find. Cars worth hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars have been found in common and otherwise insignificant garages around the world. Barn finds are so coveted that they are often sold as with little to no restoration ever completed. Extending this concept to book collecting, I've come across a few 'barn finds' in the last few years. One of my favorites is my copy of the 'Farm Line and Borough Atlas of Delaware County'.

I was notified about this book, having been recently listed on Ed Rogers Rare and Out of Print Geoscience Books. Ed specializes in science based and geology Atlases. I never asked but somehow he came in possession of this little gem. It's in superb condition, his wife did a great job of repairing some tears on the maps. As far as atlases goes, they don't come in much better condition than this. After exchanging a few emails with Ed, he admitted he didn't know much about the atlas as it fell outside his realm of expertise. Lucky for me, these little beauties rarely come up for sale so there isn't a large bank of sales data for him to have priced out it's value. He was asking $800 for it but agreed to sell it for a reduced price since it didn't have much place with his clientele. I obviously bought it immediately and several days later had this fine atlas resting in my library.

These early atlases are large in size (24"x36") and consist of hand colored maps of each of the township in the county. In addition, they contain landownership information on each of the plots. This atlas is significant to me (other than the fact it's a Delco atlas) - my great-grandfather, Charles Horne's land in listed on Tinicum Island.

It just goes to show, with a little bit of research and being tuned into the book community can pay large dividends. You never know when your next "barn find" will surface.