Rare Book Monthly

Articles - September - 2014 Issue

Old World Auctions - Maps of Rivers, Islands, and Cities

As fall approaches this month, Old World Auctions is doing its part to usher in the new season for map collectors with the third of its four annual online-only sales. With the house’s focus on cartographic material, OWA’s Sale #150 includes 750 lots of maps and atlases, as well as old and rare books with maps, geography books, globes, prints, illuminated manuscripts, and reference books. The sale will go online September 3rd and close September 17th at 10PM eastern.

In terms of subject matter, Old World Auctions bills this sale as having a particularly high quality of maps of rivers, islands, and cities around the world. North American rivers including the St. Lawrence, Hudson, Ohio and the fictitious Longue River, as well as European like the Danube, Volga, and Dnieper are all part of Sale #150. Islands found within every ocean are mapped and available for sale—Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Iceland, Cyprus, Cuba, Jamaica, New Zealand, Tierra del Fuego, the British Isles, and Nantucket. And finally plans and views of dozens of cities around the world will be available in the sale; a rare and spectacular bird’s-eye view of Naples, Italy published by Antonio Lafreri being one of the standouts.

Individual rarities are also being featured in the sale. They include the first state of Pedro de Medina’s map of the North Atlantic Ocean, Nuevo Mundo, being the first to depict the Papal Line of Demarcation. Another is John Ogilby’s rare First Lords Proprietors map, A New Discription of Carolina by Order of the Lords Proprietors, which was employed as a promotional tool encouraging expansion and settlement in Maryland and the Carolinas in the late 1600s. Several rare and important maps of Canada including Blaeu’s only map of Canada, Extrema Americae Versus Boream, ubi Terra Nova Nova Francia, and Louis Armand, Baron de Lahontan’s map of Canada and the Great Lakes, Carte Generale de Canada.

The following are ten highlights of the September sale:

  1. Pitt's Rare Carte-a-Figures Map in Full Original Color. Moses Pitt, Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula, 1680. Estimate $11000 - $13000
  2. Extremely Rare First State of Medina's Map. Pedro de Medina, Nuevo Mundo, 1545. Estimate $10000 - $15000
  3. Rare Edition of Ptolemy's Map of Sri Lanka. Ptolemy/Germanus, Duodecima Asie Tabula, 1486. Estimate $6000 - $7500
  4. Cellarius' Chart of an Earth-Centric Solar System. Cellarius/Schenk & Valck, Orbium Planetarum Terram Complectentium Scenographia, 1708. Estimate $1600 - $1900
  5. Stunning and Scarce View of Naples. Antonio Lafreri, Quale e di Quanta Importanza, e Bellezza sia la Nobile Cita di Napole in Italia, 1566. Estimate $7000 - $9000
  6. Blaeu's Only Map of Canada, Showing the Canadian Maritimes. Johannes Blaeu, Extrema Americae Versus Boream, ubi Terra Nova Nova Francia, Adjacentiaq, 1670. Estimate $2000 - $2300
  7. One of the Most Decorative and Influential Maps of Southeast Asia. Linschoten/Langren, Exacta & Accurata Delineatio cum Orarum Maritimarum tum Etiam Locorum Terrestrium quae in Regionibus China..., 1596. Estimate $13000 - $15000
  8. Lahontan's Map of Canada and the Great Lakes. Louis Armand, Baron de Lahontan, Carte Generale de Canada..., 1705. Estimate $2000 - $2400
  9. Blaeu's Strip-Map of the Dnieper River. Blaeu, Lectori S. Hunc Borysthenis Tractum ut ad Nostrum Geographiae Tabulam..., 1640. Estimate $1600 - $2000
  10. Ogilby's Scarce and Influential First Lords Proprietors Map. Moxon/Ogilby, A New Discription of Carolina by Order of the Lords Proprietors, 1673. Estimate $12000 - $15000

Registration for the sale can be done via this link: https://www.oldworldauctions.com/ssl/register.asp

Old World Auctions offers a 100% money back guarantee on the authenticity and condition of every item in the auction. They feature a 10-minute rule at the close of the auction, which keeps lots with active bidding open for an additional 10 minutes, until there are no bids on the lot for a full 10 minutes.  All of their packaging and shipping is done in-house, and they ship to over 70 countries each year.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025 Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’sBooks, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to ModernNow through July 10, 2025 Sotheby’sBooks, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to ModernNow through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly! Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
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  • DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025 DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025
    DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | HindmanWestern Manuscripts and MiniaturesJuly 8, 2025 Freeman’s | HindmanWestern Manuscripts and MiniaturesJuly 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.

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