An outstanding collection of maps from Martayan Lan.
By Michael Stillman
Martayan Lan has presented their Catalogue 43 of Fine Antique Maps and Atlases. This is a fabulous collection, including some of the earliest obtainable maps of the New World. Around half of the items are focused on the Americas, the remainder on other portions of the globe (or the entire globe). There are even a few extraterrestrial maps (that is, celestial maps), a few portraits of great mapmakers (Ortelius, Mercator and Hondius) as well as Indian portraits, and some atlases. We will focus on maps of America and the New World, but those who collect maps of other territories, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Arctic, will also find plenty to keep themselves occupied. Here are a few of the outstanding items Martyan Lan is serving up.
We will start with the world as it was known pre-Columbus. It had not changed much since Ptolemy's day. Item 3 is the 1493 map Secunda etas mundi, by Hartmann Schedel, taken from his Nuremberg Chronicle. This is the world Columbus would have known prior to setting sail. There is a Europe, Africa and Asia, but no America. The map contains images of various grotesque semi-human creatures, such as were imagined to exist in the far corners of the world. Martayan Lan notes that these images Europeans had of the inhabitants of far away lands led to their demonizing these people, and treating them poorly when the Europeans colonized their lands. Priced at $28,000.
There may have been no America in 1493, but by 1507, there was a large continent, at least in the southern hemisphere. Item 2 is the Johann Ruysch map of that year, Universalior Cogniti Orbis Tabula. Martayan Lan describes this map as "one of the Holy Grails of map collecting." It is the earliest acquirable map to show America. The Ruysch map shows a massive South American continent, but North America is not there, or almost not there. With the limited information available, Ruysch believed it was an extension of Asia. So, Newfoundland is the eastern most tip of Asia. Hispaniola is located approximately where it should be, but Ruysch concluded this must be Marco Polo's Japan. It is believed that Ruysch was the first cartographer of the New World to have actually been there, having traveled on some expedition at the turn of the 16th century to Newfoundland. Price on request.
Item 11 is a Blaeu world map, Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis, circa 1650. Naturally, the world was much better defined by this time, but there are two noticeably large errors. While Willem Blaeu had enough information on the east coast of North America from the English, French, and Dutch to portray it with some degree of reality, the other side of the continent, and most of its interior, were essentially unknown. The continent appears larger than Asia. Meanwhile, the great myth of the 16th through 18th centuries (pre-Cook) is displayed in all its glory - a massive southern continent larger than any other in the world. $25,000.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: APRES DE MANNEVILLETTE Le Neptune Oriental
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: CASSAS Eaux fortes de la Sicile et quelques vues d’Espagne
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: CASSINI DE THURY Carte générale et particulière de la France.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: JOUY; GARNERAY Vues des côtes de France dans l'Océan et dans la Méditerranée
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LA PÉROUSE Voyage autour du monde
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LE GENTIL DE LA GALAISIERE Voyage dans les Mers de l’Inde
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LICENT Hoang Ho, Pai Ho, Loan Ho, Leao Ho. Itinéraires suivis dans le bassin du golfe du Pei Tcheuly
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: FRENCH SCHOOL FROM THE 19th CENTURY Panorama d’Athènes
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: PEETERS Description des principales villes, havres et isles du golfe de Venise
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: PÉRON; FREYCINET Voyage de découverte aux terres australes
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: STACKELBERG La Grèce : vues pittoresques et topographiques.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: VALENTINER Atlas des Sonnensystems.
Forum Auctions Online Sale: The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper Ending 7th November, 2024
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). The Thirteen Problems, first edition, The Crime Club, 1932. £15,000 to £20,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Dumb Witness, first edition, 1937. £3,000 to £4,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Cards on the Table, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £2,000 to £3,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: [Carr (John Dickson)], "Carter Dickson" and John Rhode. Drop to his Death, first edition, Heinemann, [1939]. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: Berkeley (Anthony). Jumping Jenny, first edition, Hodder and Stoughton, 1933. £800 to £1,200.
Forum Auctions Online Sale: The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper Ending 7th November, 2024
Forum, Nov. 7: Marsh (Ngaio). Overture to Death, first edition, The Crime Club, 1939. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: [Day-Lewis (Cecil)] "Nicholas Blake". The Beast Must Die, first edition, 1938. £750 to £1,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Brand (Christianna). Green for Danger, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, John Lane the Bodley Head, 1945. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Murder is Easy, first edition, signed by the author, 1939. £3,000 to £4,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Sayers (Dorothy L.) Lord Peter Views the Body, first edition, Gollancz, 1928. £6,000 to £8,000.
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RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 11,135 USD
Sotheby’s: Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven and Other Poems, 1845. 33,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Bow. War and Peace, 1886. 22,500 USD
Sotheby’s: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1902. 7,500 USD
Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Others, 1920-1941. 24,180 USD
Freeman’s | Hindman Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana November 14
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: LEROUX, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera. FIRST AM. ED, FIRST ISSUE IN THE VERY RARE DUST JACKET. 1911. $6,000 – 8,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD, John. A Monograph of the Trochilidae...Humming-Birds. L., [1849-] 1861. $60,000 – 80,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: A COMPLETE RUN of Limited Editions Club publications, v.p. [mostly New York], 1929-2010. $50,000 – 60,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Lon., 1949. FIRST EDITION IN A VERY FINE DUST JACKET. $6,000 – 8,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD. A Monograph of the Ramphastidae...Toucans. L., [1852-] 54. SECOND ED. $35,000 – 45,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14:The Federalist. NY, 1788. FIRST EDITION, THICK PAPER COPY. $60,000 – 80,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: SELBY. Plates to Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology. Edin., [1833-] 34. $20,000 – 30,000.