• Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    20 March 2024
    Koller, Mar. 20: DADA - Der Zeltweg. Redaktion: Flake, Serner, Tzara. Zürich, 1919. CHF 5,000 – 8,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Jespers, Floris - Peeters, Jan. Kinderlust. Antwerpen, J. F. Bogaerts & R. R. Dodson, [1923]. CHF 2,000 – 3,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: FARBENLEHRE - Chevreul, M. E. De la Loi du contraste simultané des couleurs et de l'assortiment des objets colorés. Paris, 1839. CHF 4,000 – 5,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: BOTANIK - Schrank, Franz de Paula von. Flora Monacensis, seu plantae sponte circa Monachium nascentes. München, 1811-1818. CHF 20,000 – 30,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: French Bible manuscript. Latin manuscript on parchment. With 81 illuminated, ornamental and figurative initials. Paris, c. 1250. CHF 90,000 – 120,000
    Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    20 March 2024
    Koller, Mar. 20: Gradual for the use of a Dominican convent. Latin manuscript on parchment, with Flemish rubrics in black and red. Mecheln (?), c. 1520. CHF 25,000 – 40,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Calendar. French manuscript on parchment. With 12 large colored thorn leaf initials on a gold background. Paris, c. 1380/1390. CHF 40,000 – 60,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Freud, Sigmund. Collection of 23 handwritten letters to Alphonse Maeder in Zurich. In addition to 4 letter drafts from Maeder to Freud. 2 February 1910 - 21 September 1913. CHF 50,000 – 80,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Jung, Carl Gustav. Collection of 26 autograph and 3 typescript letters and a postcard to Alphonse Maeder. 1911-1918. CHF 20,000 – 30,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Nietzsche, Friedrich, philosopher. Handwritten letter signed to Richard Wagner. Basel, September 27, 1876. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
  • 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
  • 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
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    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.

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - November - 2015 Issue

Cartography from Shapero Rare Books

Cartography V.

Shapero Rare Books has issued their catalogue Cartography V. That is "V" as in their fifth catalogue devoted to maps. Along with individual maps, it contains atlases, city plans, sea charts, celestial charts, and a few ephemeral items, such as letter openers with maps printed on their sides. For those seeking all things directional, this is a fine catalogue. These are a few of the maps offered.

 

We will begin with a map that shows the world as it was known a century after the opening of the Age of Discovery. It displays what was known – the New World, the African continent, and with Asia now fairly accurate. On the other hand, much was still unknown or misunderstood. North America is as large as Asia, all but its eastern coast a mystery. South America has its general shape, but none of its detail. Item 8 is Abraham Ortelius' Typus Orbis Universalis, from his world atlas. This is the world map, a 1601 printing of a map dated 1587. The most notable of its incorrect features is the massive southern continent, believed to exist until the 1770's when James Cook sailed deep into where it should be without spotting land. The map also shows a channel running all along the northern border of Canada, separating it from the Arctic ice cap – the Northwest Passage. It provided hope for generations of explorers to search, and often lose their lives, trying to find this short route to the Orient. Priced at £5,500 (British pounds, or approximately $8,371 in U.S. dollars).

 

Ortelius produced what is considered the first modern atlas. Here is the greatest of them all, the pinnacle of the great Dutch atlases of the 17th century. Item 13 is a complete copy of the Atlas Major produced by Joan (Johannes) Blaeu. Offered is the first Latin edition, published 1662-1665 in Amsterdam. It is a massive collection of spectacular maps, 594 of them in 11 volumes, hand colored. This was an era of great map making, and the house of Hondius and Jansson had produced wonderful atlases leading the way in the first half of the 17th century, in competition with Joan Blaeu's father, Willem. What the younger Blaeu produced after his father died was beyond anything else. It was the largest and most expensive book published during the century. Among its maps are 58 devoted to England and 25 to the Americas. Separate maps of Virginia and New England are provided, but the continent's west coast becomes blank in the northwest, reflecting the lack of knowledge then. Blaeu also displayed California in accordance with an error that lasted a century. California is shown as an island. Australia, then New Holland, is shown, at least its western half, but fades away to the east, which was also unknown at the time. £500,000 (US $761,282).

 

Much of what was seen on these early maps was fictional, but they were an attempt to be accurate. This next map is pure fiction, meant for amusement. Circa 1730, by Mattheus Seutter, it is Representation Symbolique et ingenieuse projettée en Siege et en Bombardement, comme il faut empecher prudemment les attaques de L'Amour. This is a battle map, so to speak. However, the fortress is a man's heart, whose soldiers try to fend off the attacks of a woman. The moat surrounding his heart is labeled the Frozen Sea without Passion. Perhaps the woman might be better off finding a warmer heart to pursue. Mattheus Seutter, of Augsburg, was a prolific map maker in his day. He created maps of both real and imaginary lands. His real maps were not notably creative, as he mostly copied others' works. However, some of these imaginary ones showed a bit more spark. Item 33. £2,950 (US $4,495).

 

Item 56 is a Map of America from 1804 from British map maker Aaron Arrowsmith. It shows both North and South America. It came at a critical time in U.S. history as America was about to double its size with the Louisiana Purchase. The map itself is from 1803 and predated the Purchase, and even the transfer of that land from Spain to France which occurred slightly before the sale to America. The result is the U.S. is confined to an area with Canada its northern border, Florida (then Spanish territory) its southern border, and the Mississippi River the western border. Britain controls Canada, while most of the land west of the Mississippi is Spanish, attached to Mexico. However, a rather vague border lies between Britain and Spain for what became America's Pacific Northwest as it was unclear whose land that was. The most notable feature within this area is the Rocky Mountains, which are shown ranging from the Mexican border to the Mackenzie River in Canada. There is more detail in Canada, where Arrowsmith had access to records of Alexander Mackenzie's journeys to the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. The map predates Lewis and Clark's Expedition, leaving the west between Canada and Mexico virtually unknown. £3,000 (US $4,570).

 

Item 57 is Arrowsmith's more targeted A Map of the United States of North America... It is dated 1796, though it includes updates circa 1808. Still, based on its earlier creation, while it has added the names of Ohio and Michigan, it only shows the eastern portion of the Louisiana Territory, as that was not yet part of the U.S. in 1796. This large map consists of four sheets joined together. £9,500 (US $14,468).

 

Shapero Rare Books may be reached at +44 207 493 0876 or rarebooks@shapero.com. Their website is www.shapero.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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
  • Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Alken (Henry). Sporting Notions, first edition, T.McLean, 1832-33. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Bardi (Lorenzo). Nuova Raccolta delle piu interessanti Vedute della Citta di Firenze…, Florence, Lorenzo Bardi, [c.1840]. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Crawfurd (John). Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava..., first edition, 1829. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Dawe (George, engraver). The Life of a Nobleman, first edition, Geo. Henderson, [c.1825]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: [Doyle (John)], "H.B.". Political Sketches &c., 10 vol. including The Descriptive Key to H.B., Thomas McLean, [1829-51]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Eben (Adolphus Christian Frederick, Baron von) and Nicolaus Heideloff. Modèles de l'Uniforme Militaire Adopté dans l'Armée Royale de Suède, Rudolph Ackerman, 1808. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Geissler (J.G.G.) and Friedrich Hempel. Mahlerische Darstellungen der Sitten, Gebrauche und Lustbarkeiten bey den Russischen, Tartarischen…, 4 parts in 1, Leipzig and Paris, [1804]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Hunt (Charles). Portraits of Winning Horses...of the Derby, Oaks, & St. Leger, from the Year 1842 to 1849…, Rock Brothers & Payne, 1849. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Kunike (Adolf Friedrich). Zwey hundert und sechzig Donau-Ansichten nach dem Laufe des Donaustromes…, Vienna, Leopold Grund, 1826. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Lasinio (Carlo). [Matrimony], Florence, 1790. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Reinhardt (Joseph). A Collection of Swiss Costumes, in Miniature, second English edition, James Goodwin, [1828]. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Wengen (Gottfried Durst von). Die Öffentliche Maskerade Bamberg am Fastnachts-Montage 1833…, Bamberg, [1833]. £2,000 to £3,000.

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