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.
Freeman’s, August 20. President Washington Reaffirms the US Treaty of Friendship and Peace with Morocco, the Longest Unbroken Treaty in US History. $50,000 – 80,000.
Freeman’s, August 20. Weeks After Victory at Yorktown, Benjamin Franklin Promises Repayment of a French Loan that Funded the American Revolution. $200,000 – 300,000.
Freeman’s, August 20. Rare First Edition of the Foundational Text of the Mormon Church. $100,000 – 150,000.
Freeman’s, August 20. President Washington Sends the First Major Law Passed by Congress, the Tariff Act of 1789. $100,000 – 150,000.
Freeman’s, August 20. A Scarce Example of Audubon's Depiction of a Brown Pelican, Plate CCLI from his Birds of America. $30,000 – 50,000.
Freeman’s, August 20. The Official and First Obtainable Broadside Printing of the Lincoln's Final Emancipation Proclamation. $30,000 – 50,000.
