Rare Book Monthly

Articles - September - 2013 Issue

Sometimes in Unlikely Places: Interesting Maps

Lot 372: Frederick de wit World map

The Goodyear Tire folks of Akron, in the mid 1980’s decided, under the direction of Janet Schirn of Chicago, a past president of the American Society of Interior Designers, to build a collection of antique maps that would reflect the company’s global perspective.  The collection was two years in the making and has since remained on the walls of the company headquarters increasingly as a time capsule of what was thought important mid-way through the Reagan presidency.  It was an odd approach to building a collection but the thinking today is that the ensuing thirty years have probably moved values well beyond what they they paid for the maps and framing.  We'll soon know as the material will be sold at Rachel Davis Fine Arts on the 21st [links at the end of this article].

 

It is not entirely surprising that an interior designer curated the collection.   Maps fall on both sides of the decorator – collectors divide, a reason that prices for collectible maps have been perennially strong. 

 

Good sports that they are, Goodyear is selling this collection of 118 map lots with, in some cases high estimates, but in all cases without reserves.  Only a few percent of all lots offered at auction in the collectible paper category each year are sold naked.  These lots are in that special group.  They also fall into the smaller subgroup of unreserved sales, the announced unreserved sale.  Most unreserved lots are never announced.  These have been and this should make for an active sale.  Unreserved sales, which often provide bargains to lucky bidders, generally overall bring stronger realizations for consignors.

 

A hopeful sign to bidders may be the organization of the sale that provides no index, begins the first maps at lot 371 [and continuing to 488].  On the Davis site use the link provided at the end of this article and the term map in the keyword field to uncover the map lots. There are also other Goodyear lots outside of the map category included in the sale.

 

Here is a brief list of some of the map lots:

 

Lot 371.  Cartographer: Hartmann Schedel .   Das ander and alter der werlt.  Subject:  the world.  Nuremberg, 1493.  Estimated $15,000 to $20,000

 

Lot 372.  Cartographer:  Frederick de Wit.  : [Map 1] Nova Orbis Tabula, in Lucem Edita [in a set with Map 2] Nova Totius Europae [and Map 3] Nova Totius Asiae [and Map 4] Nova Totius Africa [and Map 5] Nova Totius Americae Descriptio.  Date:  c. 1660-70.  Original hand color.  Subjects:  Africa, America, Asia, Europe, the World.  Estimated $30,000 to $50,000.

 

Lot 381.  Cartographer: Claes Jansz. Visscher.   Comitatus Flandriae Summa Cura Recens Delineatus Per N. I. Visscherum.  Amsterdam, 1656.  An extremely rare description of Flanders, Visscher’s carte-à-figures is lavishly illustrated at the left and right borders with fourteen insets corresponding in both subject and style to the grand tradition of Flemish landscape painting that developed during the seventeenth century.  Subject:  Belgium. Amsterdam, 1656.  Estimated $20,000 to $40,000

 

Lot 384.  Cartographer: Jean Baptiste Nolin.   Le Canal Royal de Languedoc, pour la Jonction de l’Ocean et de la Mer Mediterranee.  Subject:  France.  Paris, 1697.  Estimated $12,000 to $18,000

 

Lot 415.  Cartographer: Gerard van Keulen.    Nieuwe Afteekening van het Eyland en Koninkryk Sicilia Vertoonende alle desselfs Zee Havenen Anker Plaetsen Riviere Dieptens Klippen Steeden en Vastigheeden.  Subject:  Sicily.  Amsterdam, c. 1710.   Estimated $3,000 to $5,000

 

Lot 423.  Cartographer: Nicholaos Sophianos.   Descriptio Nova Totius Graeciae per Nicolaum Sophianum.  Basel, 1601.  Sophianos’s woodcut map of Greece, the first of its kind in the Modern era, encompasses the Aegean Islands as well as the historically Hellenistic western portion of Turkey.  Subject:  Greece.  Basel, c. 1601.  Estimated $50,000 to $100,000

 

Lot 426.  Cartographer: Robert Walton.  A New, Plaine & Exact Map of Africa Described by: N:I: Visscher and Done into English, Enlarged and Corrected According to: I: Blaeu…  The subject:  Africa.  London, 1673.   Estimated $5,000 to $7,000

 

Lot 427.  Jan. Huygen van Linschoten.  Exacta & Accurata Delineatio cum Orarum Maritimarum tum etiam Locorum Terrestrium quae in Regionibus China, Cauchinchina, Camboja sive Champa, Syao, Malacca, Arracan & Pegu...  The subject:  China and Southeast Asia.  Amsterdam, 1595.  Estimated $8,000 to $12,000

 

Lot 430.  Cartographer: Sir Robert Dudley.  Asia Carta Diciasete piu Modern.  Subject:  Japan.  Florence, 1646.  Estimated $3,000 to $5,000

 

Lot 433.  Cartographer: Pierre Mortier.  Les Deux Poles Arcticque ou Septentrional, et Antarcticque ou Meridional, ou Description des Terres Arctiques et Antarctiques, et des Pays circomvoisins jusques aux 45. Degres de Latitude.  The Subject:  Asia, China, India, Middle East.  Amsterdam, 1720.  Estimated $6,000 to $8,000

 

Lot 437.  Cartographer: A. Thevet.  Quarte Partie Du Monde.. Subject:  America.  Published c. 1575-1581.  Estimated $7,000 to $10,000

 

Lot 439.  Cartographer: De Leth [Family].  Carte Nouvelle de la Mer du Sud..Subject:  Western Hemisphere, America, Africa, Pacific Ocean.  Amsterdam, c. 1740.  Estimated $6,000 to $8,000

 

Lot 440.  Cartographer: Gerard de Jode.  Brasilia et Peruvia.  Subject:  South America.  Antwerp, 1593.  Estimated $10,000 to $15,000

 

Lot 456.  Cartographer: Sebastian Munster.  Novae Insulae XXVI Nova Tabula.  Subject:  America.  Basel, 1545.  Estimates $5,000 to $7,000

 

Lot 457.  Cartographer: Vicenzo Maria Coronelli.  America Settentrional  Colle Nuoue Scoperte fin all’Anno 1688.  Subject:  North America.  Venice, 1688.  Estimated $10,000 to $15,000

 

Lot 461.  Cartographer: Matthaus Seutter.  Accurata delineatio celeberrimae Regionis Ludovicianae vel Gallice Louisiane ol Canadae et Floridae adpellatione in Septemtrionali America descripta quae hodie nomine fluminis Mississippi vel St. Louis…  Subject:  North America.  Augsburg, c. 1740.  Estimated $2,000 to $3,000

 

Lot 462.  Cartographer: Theodore de Bry.  Americae Pars, Nunc Virginia Dicta, Primum ab Anglis Inventa Sumtibus Dn. Walteri Raleigh Equestris Ordinis Viri Anno Dni. M.DLXXXV ....  Subject:  America.  Frankfurt, 1590.  Estimated $15,000 to $25,000

 

Lot 463.  Cartographer: Samuel de Champlain.  Port Fortune [Stage Harbor, Chatham, Massachusetts].  Subject:  America.  1613.  Paris, 1613.  Estimated $2,000 to $3,000

 

Lot 464.  Cartographer: Samuel de Champlain.  Port St. Louis [Plymouth Colony].  Subject:  America.  Paris, 1613.  Estimated $3,000 to $5,000

 

Lot 467.  Cartographer: Pieter van der Aa.  Nouvelle Hollande (à présent Nouvelle York) Nouvelle-Angleterre et une partie de la Virginie.  Subject:  America.  Leiden, 1714.  Estimated $1,000 to $2,000

 

Lot 472.  Cartographers:  George Louis Le Rouge.    Remarques Sur la Navigation de Terre-Nueve a New York afin d’eviter les Courrants et les bas-fonds au Sud de Nantucket et du Banc de George . . . [Benjamin Franklin’s Chart of the Gulf Stream]. Subject:  America and Atlantic Ocean.  Paris, 1782.  Estimated $20,000 to $30,000

 

Lot 473.  Cartographer: Guillaume Delisle.  Carte du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France et des Decouvertes qui y ont eté Faites Dressee sur Plusieurs Observations …  Subject:  Canada.  Paris, 1703.  Estimated $8,000 to $12,000

 

Lot 477.  Cartographer: Oronce Fine.  Nova, et Integra Universi Orbis Descriptio.  Subject:  the world.  Paris, 1531-1540.  Estimated $20,000 to $40,000

 

Lot 480.  Cartographer: Henricus Hondius.  Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula.  Subject:  the world.  Amsterdam, 1630.  Estimated $4,000 to $6,000

 

Lot 481.  Cartographer: W. Blaeu.  Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica Ac Hydrographica Tabula.  Subject:  the world.  Amsterdam, c. 1631.  Estimated $15,000 to $20,000

 

Lot 482.  Cartographer: John Speed.  A New and Accurat Map of the World Drawne According to ye Truest Descriptions Latest Discoveries & Best Observations yt have beene Made by English or Strangers. 1651.  Subject:  the world.  London, 1651.  Estimated $15,000 to $20,000

 

Lot 483.  Cartographer: Claes Jansz. Visscher.  Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula. Auctore N. I. Piscator.  Subject:  the world.  Published , 1652.  Estimated $8,000 to $12,000

 

Lot 484.  Cartographer: John Overton.  A New and Accurat Map of the World Drawne According to the Best and Late Discoveries Anno Dom 1670.  Subject:  the world.  London, 1670.  Estimated $15,000 to $20,000

 

Lot 486.  Cartographer: H-tan (Japanese, 1654–1738).  Nansenbushu Bankoku Shoka no Zu [Map Of All The Countries In Jambudvipa].  Subject:  the world.  Kyoto, 1710.  Estimated $7,000 to $10,000

 

Lot 487.  Cartographer: Nicholas de Fer.  Carte de la Mer du Sud, et des Costes d’Amerique et d’Asie, Situees sur cette Mer .... [in set with] Carte de la Mer du Nord, et des Costes d’Amerique, d'Europe et d’Afrique, Situees sur cette Mer ... 1713.  Subject, the world, northern and southern hemispheres.  Paris, 1713.  Estimated $20,000 to $40,000

 

Lot 488.  Cartographer: Pieter (Pierre) Van der Aa.  Planisphere Terrestre, Suivant les Nouvelles Observations des Astronomes. Dressee Presente au Roy Tres Chretien par Mr. Cassini le Fils, de l’Academie Royale des Sciences. A Leide Chez Pierre Vander Aa. Avec Privilege.  Subject the world.  Leyden, c. 1713.  Estimated $8,000 to $12,000

 

This is a wide variety of material.  The lots identified in this story are the more and most expensive ones.  More than 50 other lots are estimated under $1,000 so there are plenty of reasons to look this sale over carefully.

 

The Date:  September 21st

The Time:  9:30 am EST

 

Location:  in the rooms at Rachel Davis Fine Art

 

1301 West 79th Street

Cleveland, Ohio 44102

Phone 216-939-1190

Email:  info@racheldavisfinearts.com

 

On the Rachel Davis site -

 

www.racheldavisfinearts.com/auctionitems.aspx

 

A link to the sale at Live Auctioneers 

 

 

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
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    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
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    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
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    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.

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