• CHRISTIE’S
    Valuable Books and Manuscripts
    London auction
    13 December
    Find out more
    Christie’s, Explore now
    TREW, Christoph Jacob (1695–1769). Plantae Selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortus curiosorum. [Nuremberg: 1750–1773]. £30,000–40,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    VERBIEST, Ferdinand (1623–88). Liber Organicus Astronomiae Europaeae apud Sinas restituate. [Beijing: Board of Astronomy, 1674]. £250,000–350,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALICE & NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT. Master of Jean Rolin (active 1445–65). Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, [Paris, c.1450–1460]. £120,000–180,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    A SILVER MICROSCOPE. Probably by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), c.1700. £150,000–250,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    AN ENGLISH HORARY QUADRANT
    C.1311. £100,000–150,000
  • Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Roberts (David) & Croly (George). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumae, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia. Lond. 1842 - 1843 [-49]. First Edn. €10,000 to €15,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Incunabula: O'Fihily (Maurice). Duns Scotus Joannes: O'Fihely, Maurice Abp… Venice, 20th November 1497. €8,000 to €12,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: An important file of documents with provenance to G.A. Newsom, manager of the Jacob’s Factory in Dublin, occupied by insurgents during Easter Week 1916. €6,000 to €9,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: WILDE (Oscar), 1854-1900, playwright, aesthete and wit. A lock of Wilde’s Hair, presented by his son to the distinguished Irish actor Mícheál MacLiammóir. €6,000 to €8,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Heaney (Seamus). Bog Poems, London, 1975. Special Limited Edition, No. 33 of 150 Copies, Signed by Author. Illus. by Barrie Cooke. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Binding: Burke, Thomas O.P. (de Burgo). Hibernia Dominicana, Sive Historia Provinciae Hiberniae Ordinis Praedicatorum, ... 1762. First Edition. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: COLLINS, Michael. An important TL, 29 July 1922, addressed to GOVERNMENT on ‘suggested Proclamation warning all concerned that troops have orders to shoot prisoners found sniping, ambushing etc.’. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Scott Fitzgerald (F.) The Great Gatsby, New York (Charles Scribner's Sons) 1925, First Edn. €2,000 to €3,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Yeats (W.B.) The Poems of W.B. Yeats, 2 vols. Lond. (MacMillan & Co.) 1949. Limited Edition, No. 46 of 375 Copies Only, Signed by W.B. Yeats. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of the Russian Empire, Description in English and French, Lg. folio London (S. Gosnell) 1803. First Edn. €1,000 to €1,500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of Turkey, Illustrated by a Series of Engravings. Lg. folio Lond.(T. Bensley) 1802. First Edn. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Mason (Geo. Henry). The Costume of China, Illustrated with Sixty Engravings. Lg. folio London (for W. Miller) 1800. First Edn. €1,400 to €1,800
  • ABAA VBF: Holiday Edition
    November 30-December 2
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA VBF: Holiday Edition
    November 30-December 2
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA VBF: Holiday Edition
    November 30-December 2
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA VBF: Holiday Edition
    November 30-December 2
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA VBF: Holiday Edition
    November 30-December 2
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA VBF: Holiday Edition
    November 30-December 2
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA VBF: Holiday Edition
    November 30-December 2
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA VBF: Holiday Edition
    November 30-December 2
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA VBF: Holiday Edition
    November 30-December 2
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA VBF: Holiday Edition
    November 30-December 2
    abaa.org/vbf
  • Sotheby’s
    Fine Books from a Distinguished Private Library
    28 November 2023
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 28: Captain Thomas Brown | Illustrations of the American ornithology. £80000-120000
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 28: William Hamilton | Campi phlegraei. £40000-60000
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 28: Nicola Zabaglia and Domenico Fontana | Castelli, e ponti con alcune ingegnose pratiche. £6000-8000
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 28: Bible, German | Nuremberg: Koberger, 1483. £40000-60000
    Sotheby’s, Nov. 28: Bible, English | King James version. £8000-12000

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - December - 2015 Issue

50 Cartographic Masterpieces from Daniel Crouch Rare Books

Catalogue VII of cartography.

Daniel Crouch Rare Books has issued their Catalogue VII, and it is spectacular. Their specialty is antique atlases, maps, plans, sea charts, globes, scientific instruments, and voyages from the 15th - 19th centuries. They have devoted over 200 large pages to just 50 items. They are worthy of the detailed explanations and numerous illustrations provided. Crouch begins with a quote from writer and book critic Michael Dirda: "As book collectors know all too well: We only regret our economies, never our extravagances." There are no regrets in this catalogue. It is all either top of the line or over the top of the line. Here are a few of these items.

 

We begin with an early atlas, containing the first separately printed map of the Western Hemisphere. Item 7 is a 1550 edition of Sebastian Munster's Cosmographia. It also contains the first true set of maps of the four continents. The map of North America is particularly interesting since it is so early. The Gulf of Mexico, including Florida, is reasonably recognizable. The east coast is east west more than north south, but still recognizable with one major flaw. Verazzano had spotted a ship on what he thought was the other side of an isthmus. He therefore concluded there must be a great inland sea, ranging all the way from the Pacific Ocean almost to the Atlantic. This sea is present on Munster's map. In reality, Verazzano was just seeing to the other side of the Atlantic barrier islands. Being thoroughly unfamiliar with the Pacific side, he made the continent rather narrow with a fairly straight coast, with requisite imagined coves and such, on the western side. He was also aware of the existence of Japan, but misjudged its location. The result is a large island among many small ones, parked off the west coast of America. He likewise misjudged the size of the Pacific Ocean, making it much smaller than it is. However, he does get credit for creating the first map to include the name Magellan gave this ocean – Mare Pacificum, or Pacific Ocean. There is much more in this work, including a plate of various scary-looking sea monsters such as never existed outside of someone's imagination. Priced at £150,000 (British pounds, or approximately $231,250 in U.S. dollars).

 

This next item has been described as "the most luxurious and intrinsically beautiful scientific book that has ever been produced." High praise, indeed. Item 6 is a first edition of Petrus Apianus' (Peter Apian) Astronimicum Caesareum, published in 1540. Apianus had earlier worked in the field of geography, and it was once thought his 1520 map was the first to use the name "America" for the New World (it may be second only to Waldseemuller). However, he would soon turn to the sky, with this great work being focused on the movement of celestial bodies, including comets. It was Apianus who first realized that the tails of comets always point away from the sun. This book features numerous volvelles, those rotating paper disks that enable one to monitor the positions of celestial bodies as they move across the heavens. They were sort of the computers of their time. This book was so rare and hard to obtain, even in its day, that Henry VIII was not able to obtain it without the author's assistance. Around 35 copies are believed to have survived, with Crouch noting that this is, "one of the, if not the, most complete copy to have ever appeared on the market." £1,250,000 (US $1,927,400).

 

Item 13 is a later copy of the Ortelius atlas, Theatro del Mondo di Abrahamo Ortelio, published in 1608. This is one of the editions published by Jan Baptist Vrients. Vrients purchased the stock of Abraham Ortelius, who died in 1598, from his heirs. Ortelius produced the great atlases of the 16th century, though they would be surpassed in the following century by the Dutch, who created the most spectacular examples of them all. This item is a fascinating one as it is accompanied by a letter to Ortelius from a friend named Vryfpenninck in Lisbon. Nothing is known of the latter other than he must have known Ortelius from Antwerp as he sends his regards through Ortelius to another friend there. In his letter, Vryfpenninck warns Ortelius of what type of material is likely to be seized by the Inquisition if sent there. It seems that anything erotic or heretical would not be well received. The standards of what was considered heretical were obviously quite broad because even liberal Catholic theologian Erasmus was so listed. Vryfpenninck occasionally switches from Latin to Dutch in his letter, and that may be because those in Lisbon who might intercept his words would be less likely to understand Dutch. He talks about rolling up and covering material in boxes, which while ostensibly packing instructions may have been a disguised message as to how to smuggle prohibited material into the country. £250,000 (US $385,500).

 

This takes us to the greatest atlas of all. During the 17th century, in the years following Ortelius, a great competition developed in the atlas publishing business. On one side was the partnership of Hondius and Janssonius, on the other Willem Blaeu and his son, Johannes (or Joan). They strove to outdo each other, creating progressively larger and better atlases. After Willem Blaeu died, his son took over, and began, over many years, producing the maps and atlas that would surpass all. From 1659-1665, he produced his Atlas Major in five languages. An estimated total of 1,550 copies covering all five editions were printed. That included 5.4 million pages of text and 950,000 copper plate impressions. Item 15 is a French edition, somewhat larger and more expensive than the others. The title, in French, is Le Grand Atlas, and it cost 450 guilders. For comparison, the average house in Amsterdam at the time cost 500 guilders. It was the most expensive book produced in the 17th century. The atlas contains 12 volumes, two on France for this edition. The American volume contains 23 maps, including some of the earliest of Virginia and New England. The west coast is rather vague, except for one misconception – California is depicted as an island. Item 15. £750,000 (US $1,156,000).

 

The Blaeus did not only make maps and atlases. They put their cartographic skills to the even more challenging design of globes. Item 46 is a set of their globes, one terrestrial, the other celestial. There were four states. The first was created in 1617, the last in 1645-48. These are from the fourth and final edition. This final state contains revisions made by Johannes after his father's death, taking into account discoveries made during what was the Age of Discovery. The celestial globe did not require such regular adjustments. £1,250,000 (US $1,927,400).

 

Daniel Crouch Rare Books may be reached at +44 (0)20 7042 0240 or info@crouchrarebooks.com. Their website is found at www.crouchrarebooks.com

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    30th November, 2023
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Saint Jerome penitent, woodcut with contemporary hand-colouring and letterpress text beneath, [Augsburg], [Johann Froschauer], [c.1498]. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Elimithar (Elluchasem) "Ibn Butlan". Tacuini sanitatis, first edition, Strasbourg, Johann Schott, 1531. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: [Missale Romanum], Latin, Incipit ordo missalis secundum consuetudinem Curiae Romani, manuscript in Latin, on vellum, 234ff. [c. 1400]. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    30th November, 2023
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Foyle copy.- [Shakespeare (William)]. Macbeth. A Tragedy: With all the Alterations, Amendments, Additions, and New Songs. As it is now Acted at the Theatre Royal, for Hen. Herringman, 1687. £5,000 to £7,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Dickens (Charles). A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, first edition, first impression, first issue, Chapman & Hall, 1843. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Lawrence (T.E.) Revolt in the Desert, working draft typescript, 1927. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    30th November, 2023
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Hampstead Bindery.- Phillips (Stephen). Marpessa, exquisitely bound by The Hampstead Bindery, almost certainly P.A. Savoldelli, 1900. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Matisse (Henri).- Joyce (James). Ulysses, one of 1500 copies, this one of 250 signed by the author and artist, New York, The Limited Editions Club, 1935. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Burroughs (Edgar Rice). Tarzan at the Earth's Core, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author to his son, New York, 1930. £5,000 to £7,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    30th November, 2023
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Fitzgerald (F. Scott). Tender is the Night, first edition, first printing, signed by the author, New York, 1934. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Fleming (Ian).- Hooks (Mitchell) and David Chasman. Dr. No, British film poster, Stafford & Co Ltd, [1962]. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: America.- California.- Palou (Francisco). Relacion Historica de la Vida Y Apostolicas Tareas delVenerable Padre Fray Junipero Serra..., first edition, second issue, 1787. £6,000 to £8,000.
  • Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: Samuel Augustus Mitchell, A New Map of Texas, Oregon and California with the Regions Adjoining, Philadelphia, 1846. $3,500 to $5,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: 17th–19th-century case maps of various locations. $1,500 to $2,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Andreas Cellarius, Haemisphaerium Stellatum Boreale Cum Subiecto Haemisphaerio Terrestri, celestial chart, Amsterdam, 1708. $2,500 to $3,500.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: Vincenzo Coronelli, Set of engraved gores for Coronelli’s monumental 42-inch terrestrial globe, Venice, circa 1688–97. $18,000 to $22,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, group of four navigational charts, Antwerp, 1580s. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Thomas Bros, Block Book of Berkeley, Oakland, 1920s. $800 to $1,200.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Nieuhoff & John Ogilby, An Embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, map of China, plan of Canton, London, 1673. $1,200 to $1,800.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Frederick Sander, Reichenbachia, St. Albans, 1888-1894. $5,000 to $7,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Two early illustrated works on horsemanship and breeding, Nuremberg, early 18th century. $700 to $800.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Gould, A Monograph of the Ramphastidae, or Family of Toucans. Supplement to the First Edition, London, 1834; 1855. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Pinkerton, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World, London, 1808–14. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Oakley Hoopes Bailey, Hackensack, New Jersey, Boston, 1896. $800 to $1,200.

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