Map of the Day: 1865 Sanitary & Topological Map of the City and Island of New York

Got some money to burn? Love really important maps? Especially happy if your money spent on said maps can go to a good cause like, say, The Trust For Public Land? Have we got an auction for you!

Sigh, if only. But seriously, this map is pretty awesome: The "1865 Sanitary & Topological Map of the City and Island of New York was charted and drawn in intricate detail by Egbert Ludovicus Viele, the engineer-in-chief of the Central Park project. This map comprehensively depicts the watercourses, meadows, ponds, marshes, streams, canals and shorelines that would affect and be affected by development throughout the City." Despite its age, Viele's map "remains the bible for many of the city's structural engineers, as current as the foundations being poured across the island of Manhattan today." It's worth a gander, and big spenders can inquire about nabbing the original for $15k.