Rare Book Monthly

Articles - June - 2021 Issue

June 2-9: The European Exploration of the Western Hemisphere Mapped in a Single-Owner Sale

There is a side effect of collecting in the age of the Internet that has been well-documented by my father: with so much material accessible, collectors are often compelled to drill down into very specific interests. This month, Old World Auctions is helping one such collector facilitate this transition in his approach. The collector, who wishes to remain anonymous, has decided to “downsize and shift focus” to Iowa-centric cartography—a subject near and dear to him. This trimming of the collecting fat has yielded an impressive single-owner sale that will be auctioned at Old World on June 9th. Read on for more information…

Over 250 pieces from a superb single-owner collection will be featured in the June 9 sale at Old World Auctions. Curated over two decades, this collection focuses on the European exploration of the Western Hemisphere, with numerous early and rare maps by Fries, Münster, Apianus, Honter, Ruscelli, Ortelius, de Bry, and Linschoten. The sale will include over 40 maps by famed Dutch cartographer Abraham Ortelius, including his important maps of the world, western hemisphere, Pacific Ocean, Arctic Ocean and Southeast Asia. 

The collector has deep roots in Iowa and got his start collecting maps of his home state. While searching auctions for maps related to Iowa, he soon had the revelation that there were obtainable and relatively affordable maps from the 16th and 17th centuries. He recalls: “I bought a 1535 example of Lorenz Fries’ Orbis Typus Universalis. I still remember marveling that I held in my hand a map that had the word ‘America’ on it and showed the American continents, made from a plate that dated to the time of Magellan’s journey.” This map by Fries will be included in the auction, with an estimate of $6,000 to $7,500. Also included is Fries’ more decorative version of Waldseemüller's landmark “Admiral's Map” estimated at $9,000-$11,000. Another beautifully decorated and early map of Americas in the collection is Theodore de Bry’s Occidentalis Americae Partis, estimated at $7,500-$9,000.

As many collectors can attest, once you start down the path of collecting, it is easy for curiosity to lead you to new avenues of interest. In addition to pieces highlighting early exploration, the collection also features important maps and atlases from early United States history. Thomas Gamaliel Bradford’s “An Illustrated Atlas ... of the United States” (1838) has 39 hand-colored maps, including important maps of Texas, Iowa and Wisconsin, and is estimated at $6,000-$7,500. Also of note is Anthony Finley’s “A New General Atlas” (1824), which illustrates the rapidly developing western frontier and is estimated at $4,750-$6,000.

Although the collector has decided to shift his collecting focus, he reminisces about what his collection has meant to him. “My map collection has allowed me to be a time traveler, in a way, and go back in time and wonder what this continent looked like before [its] transformation, and during that transformation.” View the auction catalog for this collection online beginning June 2, with high resolution images and full condition reports on each item. Bids can be placed through June 9 at 10 PM Eastern. Register to bid at oldworldauctions.com/register or call (804) 290-8090 for more information.

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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 | 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.
  • 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!

Article Search

Archived Articles