Penrose, ‘Travel and Discovery in the Renaissance’, pp. 292-4; Borba de Moraes, II, pp. 644-5 (‘This magnificent edition is hard to find today’), Sabin 57990.
If you buy this set you may find yourself later asking “why did I do this?” because it is printed so much later than the period it relates to. Reassurance will come from reading the following books:
Travel and Discovery in the Renaissance 1420-1620 by Boies Penrose.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: 1952 (26 copies available on ABE)
Books to Build an Empire by John Parker. Amsterdam: 1965 (19 copies
available on ABE)
English Interpreters of the Iberian New World from Purchas to Stevens (1603-
1726) (4 copies available on ABE)
There is more. There is Georg Rithaymer’s De Orbis Terrarum situ compendium...printed in 1538; a 1598-99 Ptolemy; and a Strabo, printed in 1597 that contains a Mercator world map. There is of course more. It is possible to collect the earliest history of the new world. It simply takes patience, luck and money.
Martayan Lan
Fine Antique Maps, Atlases, & City Views
Catalogue 31
Okay, you promised your spouse you wouldn’t buy any more books or maps until the stock market recovered. AND the stock market is doing much better. It is way off its lows even if it isn’t anywhere near its highs AND you still have your day job. But it’s important to show restraint so you are deciding that you aren’t going to buy every item in this catalogue even though the thought is coursing through your mind. The good news is there are only 58 items. The bad news is that they will cost you $466,750. In other words, it is just another day at the office for collectors of maps and books containing maps. Maps are history and beauty in a form that makes it easy to display as well as hard to say no to.
ALDE, Apr. 8: GUEVARA (ANTONIO DE). Histoire de Marc-Aurèle, Empereur Romain, vray miroir et horloge des Princes. Paris, Pierre et Galliot du Pré, frères, 1565. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: HEURES DE LA VIERGE. Horæ in laudem beatissimæ virginis Mariæ ad usum Romanum. Paris, Charles L'Angelier, 1556. €4,000 to €5,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: MONTAIGNE (MICHEL DE). Les Essais. Édition nouvelle, trouvée après le deceds de l'autheur… Paris, Abel L'Angelier, 1595. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [ROJAS (FERNANDO DE)]. Celestina, tragicomedia di Calisto et Melibea, tradotta de lingua castigliana in italiano idioma… Venise, 1531. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CAMÕES (LUÍS DE). Os Lusiadas. Lisbonne, Pedro Crasbeeck, 1613. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Bruxelles, Roger Velpius & Huberto Antonio, 1611. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: LA FONTAINE (JEAN DE). Fables choisies, mises en vers. Paris, Denys Thierry et Claude Barbin, 1678-1694. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid, Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: DIDEROT (DENIS) ET JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, 1751-1765. €15,000 to €20,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. LAMARTINE (Alphonse de). Les Laboureurs. Poème tiré de Jocelyn… Lyon, J. A. Henry, 1883. €8,000 to €10,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. Livre de prières tissé d'après les enluminures des manuscrits du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Lyon, [A. Roux], 1886. €5,000 to €6,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections Open for Bidding 2-17 April
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: [Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun]. Le Roman de la Rose, [Geneva or Lyons, c.1481], first printed edition of the most important medieval French vernacular poem. £200,000 to £300,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Castiglione. Il libro del cortegiano. [Venice], April 1528, first edition, in a magnificent binding by Jean Picard for Jean Grolier. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Jacobus de Cessolis. Schachzabelbuch, Strasbourg, 1483, von der Lasa copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: World Championship, 1972. A collection of 84 press photographs of the famed match between Spassky and Fischer. £2,000 to £3,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Ben Franklin. Autograph letter signed, to Lord Shelburne, British Prime Minister, during peace negotiations, November 1782. £15,000 to £20,000.
