Antique Maps and Old Prints

DE LA SPHERE

Louis Charles Desnos, Paris, 1761 Light wash and outline color, original to hemispheres; 14x20 inches Graceful world map in two hemispheres, an uncommon and very early one from Desnos, dated in the cartouche. The hemispheres and flanking text relating to astronomical observations are surrounded by an ornate border, separately printed from the map. Desnos was at one time Geographer to the King of Denmark. Excellent condition. $395 (W014)

PLANISPHERE

Emile Levasseur, Paris, c.1845 Full original and later handcolor, 11.5x16 inches A beautiful decorative piece, one of the last such maps, with illustrations of Adam and Eve, signs of the zodiac, the seasons, Christ with believers and infidels, and an overarching heaven filled with stars. On the map itself, the Arctic and Antarctic are beginning to be more fully delineated. The map itself is in original color, the surrounding illustrations are in fine later color. Excellent condition. $350 (W011)

WESTLICHE HALBKUGEL - OSTLICHE HALBKUGEL

Carl Flemming, Glogau (Germany), 1849 Original outline color, hemispheres 9.8 inches diameter on sheets 14.5x17.5 inches The world at the midpoint of the 19th century, by a German cartographic publishing house whose output is relatively scarce. Hawaii is still the Sandwich Islands and the polar regions are sketchy. The hemispheres themselves are about perfect for framing; some spotting and browning outside the frameable area. $150 (WO13)

AMERICAS

AMERICAE SIVE NOVI ORBIS, NOVA DESCRIPTIO

Abraham Ortelius, Antwerp, 1598 Black-and-white, 14x19 inches A particularly rich impression of this famous and influential map from the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, or Theater of the World -- the first "modern" atlas. This map is from the uncommon 1598 Dutch edition. The third state removes the previous bulge from South America and is distinguished in a number of other ways, among them by Ortelius’ printed statement of authorship with the date 1587 (first printing of this state), one of the earliest uses of "California" on a map, and the first appearance of the Solomon Islands. Fabled Quivira is at upper left. Very good condition; light centerfold wrinkle, minor marginal browning. (Burden 64.) $5,900 (A007)

NOVA ET ACCURATISSIMA TOTIUS AMERICAE...

Nicolas Visscher, Amsterdam, c.1677 Original wash color, 17x21.5 inches A beautiful map with superb original color, cartouches crisply black, with features copied many times over by such mapmakers as Danckerts, de Wit and Ogilby. Burden (332) says, "Visscher's map greatly influenced the cartography of the Americas both geographically and artistically." Its persisting influences include a large, open-ended lake in the Great Lakes area (originally from a Blaeu wall map), and its elaborate cartouches, one depicting angels sweeping an Indian toward heaven and away from the grasp of the devil. An insular California, wildlife, Indians, sailing ships and battles add to the appeal of this second edition. The paper is an attractive light cream. Light crease at centerfold and two moderate stains in the blank margins. $3,200 (AM029)

AMERICA AUREA PARS ALTERA MUNDI

Gerard and Leonard Valk, Amsterdam, c. 1706 Original full color, 19x25 inches This beautifully ornamental map of the Western Hemisphere depicts California as an island, separated from the mainland by the island-dotted Mare Rubrum. Here at last the Mississippi River is more accurately placed. The magnificent, fully colored cartouche portrays an Indian queen surrounded by exotic plants and animals, receiving a gift of gold. The blank spot at lower left in the cartouche contained New Zealand in an earlier version. This issue is variously dated, but we’ll go with 1706, written in an old hand on an identical map in our home. Faint residue of printer's ink in the seas. $2,600 (A002)

AMERIQUE

Louis Charles Desnos, Paris, 1761 Pastel wash color, original on map; 14x20 inches Decorative map of the Western Hemisphere, an early one from Desnos, dated in the cartouche. Flanking columns of text describe the Americas and their geographical and political divisions. California is just barely a peninsula, and "Nlle. Angleterre" hugs the Atlantic coast. Some population figures have been neatly noted in a side column (Philadelphia 80,000, Boston 25,000). The ornate border is a knockout literally and figuratively; it was printed separately from the map. Excellent condition. $475 (AM024)

ATLAS UNIVERSEL DE GEOGRAPHIE... VOL. V, AMERIQUE MERIDIONALE

Philippe Vandermaelen (Henry Ode, engraver), Brussels, 1827 Large folio; 21.50x28.75 inches The South America volume of six volumes, the first atlas to attempt mapping the world on a uniform scale, the largest atlas ever published, the first lithographed atlas. Only 800 sets were printed. Purchasers, at 600 gold francs, included the Pope, the Czar of Russia, and other European monarchs and their General Staffs. The 45 maps (plus one page of only text) are bound flat and unfolded. All have original color. The images vary slightly in size around an average of 19x22 inches. There are two versions of Map 16, and Map 28 is misnumbered as Map 18. The maps are in very good to excellent condition, with few exceptions. The title page and key map are stained and spotted. Contents are tight in worn but serviceable half-leather covers. (Phillip L. Phillips, "List of Geographical Atlases in the Library of Congress," 749.) $2,500 (A001)

AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE

Emile Levasseur, Paris, c.1845 Map original color, illustrations black and white; 11.25x17 inches A striking impression of this exceptionally decorative map, one of the last "illustrated" maps. Texas is a republic (named, not bordered) with a population of 200,000. Alaska is "Amerique Russe." The rich black-and-white illustrations of North American scenes, flora and fauna are by Raimond Bonheur, father of Rosa Bonheur, a renowned painter of animals. Excellent condition. $350 (AM011)

NORD AMERICA

Carl Flemming, Glogau Germany, c.1844 Original outline color, 12x16 inches An attractive early example of the uncommon Flemming maps, with Texas as a heart-shaped republic prominently outlined in bright blue. Mexico, of course, occupies much of the West, and both Alaska and much of western Canada are Russian. Oregon’s northwestern border is not delineated; the area is blank. The map’s original outline color has been freshened after careful cleaning. $220 (AM014)

NORD AMERICA

Carl Flemming, Glogau, Germany, 1859 Original wash and outline color, 12.5x16.5 inches In this later edition of the previous map, Mexico has yielded the West and Florida and Texas are the only states/regions named within the United States. Greenland is now "Danish Greenland." Blue-green seas; only minor flaws. $160 (A006)

UNITED STATES/CANADA

CARTE DU MEXIQUE ET DE LA FLORIDE

Guillaume Delisle, Paris, 1703 (1708) Original outline color, 19x25.5 inches This is Delisle's own first reissue of his 1703 map, "one of the great maps...copied by many other cartographers for more than a century," says historian Carl Wheat (note Seutter map, below). It ranks beside Delisle's "Carte de la Louisiane..." (see under Southwest/Texas) as one of this great scientific mapmaker's "towering landmarks...of Western cartographic development. The fresh accuracy of his map influenced mapmakers profoundly..." Among other achievements, it was the first to chart accurately the course of the Mississippi. (Wheat 84, Martin & Martin plate 14, Cumming 137.) Top margin narrow with minor chips, full platemark. $3,300 (SW118)

CARTE DU CANADA OU DE LA NOUVELLE FRANCE

Guillaume Delisle (Covens & Mortier), Amsterdam, 1730 Original color, 19.50x22.75 inches A foundation map for Canada, with a fine depiction of the Great Lakes and the Canadian Arctic. As first issued by Delisle in 1703 and later by his Amsterdam publishers, it is the first map to depict the latitude and longitude of Canada more or less correctly, and the first printed map to name Detroit. The unknown lands to the northwest are filled by the magnificent cartouche, in which natives, explorers, clerics, animals and plants are depicted. Delisle was the first great "scientific cartographer," and, as royal geographer, had unprecedented access to those returning from Canada. A fine impression on heavy paper. $1,250 (UC005)

MAPPA GEOGRAPHICA REGIONEM MEXICANAM ET FLORIDAM

Matthaeus Seutter, Tobias Lotter; Augsburg, c.1740 Original wash color, 18.75x22.5 inches Good-looking, strongly engraved map based on Delisle’s 1703 prototype and Homann’s later rendition -- not surprisingly, as Seutter was Homann’s apprentice. A huge "Florida" dominates the Southeast and most of Texas. A sea battle rages at lower left, and routes of the Spanish treasure galleons are marked. There are four insets of major ports: Havana, Vera Cruz, Porto Bello (Panama) and Cartagena (Columbia). This map is Plate 17 in Martin & Martin, which ascribes the date. Lotter was Seutter’s son-in-law and engraver, and later took over the business, making exact dating difficult. Very good condition. $2,300 (UC036)

NEW BRUNSWICK, NOVA SCOTIA, NEWFOUNDLAND, PRINCE EDWARD...

O.W. Gray, New York, 1884 Pastel color, 12.14 inches Attractive 121-year-old delineation of this historic, rugged region of Canada -- and of France, in small islands forming the French overseas department of St. Pierre and Miquelon, the last vestiges of France's once-great empire in America. Small brownspots bottom of image. $65 (UC035)

NORTHEAST/MIDWEST

CARTE DE LA NOUVELLE ANGLETERRE, NOUVELLE YORCK, ET PENSILVANIE

J. N. Bellin, Paris, 1757 Black and white, 8x12 inches The Appalachians hem in England's colonies along the coast in this crisp French and Indian war map by Bellin, the French Royal Hydrographer. It is "unknown country" to the west, with "villages sauvages" and recognition of the "Nations Iroquoises" -- but there's a "Village des Francois" in the mountains as well, and French forts are shown. A little light wrinkling. $330 (NE030)

CARTE DES VOYAGES DU CAPe. CARVER DANS L'INTERIEUR DE L'AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE (in book)

Jonathan Carver/Robert Benard, Paris, 1784 Map black and white, folding, 10.5x13.5 inches, book 5x7.75 inches The first French edition of Carver’s famous 1778 book and map, the latter notable for the first use of the name Oregon on a printed map, in "Source de l’Oregon" applied to a western lake and river. Carver "penetrated farther into the West than any other Englishman before the Revolution" (Howes 215), stimulating curiosity about routes to the Pacific. While the map centers on the Upper Midwest and present-day Wisconsin, it stretches well into the Great Plains. The book is in very good condition, with only minor cover chipping. The map is on heavy paper, with a few brown spots on the left margin outside the image. $1,250 (MW016) (See this item also under West/Northwest)

DU PETROLE ET SES DERIVES.

Norman Tate (Brandon, translator), Paris, 1864 Booklet 9x5 inches, with view 6.5x9.5 inches The main attraction of this 150-page French booklet is a view of the first oil field in the United States, a folding print titled "Sources du Petrole a Tarr-Farm, Oil-Creek, Venango" -- where the first oil well was brought in by Col. Drake in that Pennsylvania county just five years earlier. An official-looking party -- investors? -- is getting the VIP tour. The black-and-white print is in fine condition; some chipping to the booklet’s soft covers. $250 (NE013)

DETROIT

Appleton & Co., New York, c.1872 Black and white, 3.5x5.5 inches on sheet 5.5x8.5 inches A charming original view of the Motor City-to-be from "Picturesque America." Ships and cows and forest make 19th-century Detroit look nothing like the industrialized city of today; the tallest feature appears to be a distant church steeple. $75 (MW028)

SOUTH/SOUTHEAST

VIRGINIA, MARYLANDIA ET CAROLINA...

Johann Baptist Homann, Nuremberg, c.1730 Original color, 19x22.5 inches A fine view of the mid-Atlantic seaboard by Germany's leading cartographer, from East and West "Jarsey" to Cape Fear. The map is centered on Chesapeake Bay, with especially good detail of the coastal regions of Virginia and the Carolinas. A tiny grid plan distinguishes Philadelphia, while all else is settlements and Indian villages. Ever aware of his audience, Homann also locates "Germantown Teutsche Statt" at the head of the Rappahannock River. Inland, the large, legendary lake "Apalache" still appears in the Carolinas. The great baroque cartouche portrays settlers (high-end), Indians, and the New World's bounty. Excellent condition. $2,200 (SO26)

CARTA GEOGRAFICA DELLA FLORIDA...

Giralomo Albrizzi, Venice, c.1750 Black and white, 13x17 inches A scarce and very attractive map based largely on Delisle’s landmark 1718 map (see first item under Southwest/Texas). Notable for its cartouche of natives sneaking up on a pair of sleeping lions. Mapmakers often confused America’s flora and fauna with those of Africa -- or this might be a misconception of the American cougar. Excellent condition and impression. $1,450 (SO28)

CARTE DE LA VIRGINIE, DE LA BAYE CHESAPEACK...

J. N. Bellin, Paris, 1757 Black and white, 7.5x11.5 inches Bellin centers this finely engraved, French and Indian war-era map on Chesapeake Bay and the colonies of Virginia and Maryland, with parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The "Patowmack" and James rivers are prominent, with English settlements thick along the James. Bellin was Royal Hydrographer. This map is from his Petite Atlas Maritime. Only minor flaws. $350 (SO31)

NEUESTE KARTE VON GEORGIA

SOUTHWEST/TEXAS

CARTE DE LA LOUISIANE ET DU COURS DU MISSISSIPI

Guillaume Delisle, Paris, 1718 Original outline color, 19x25.5 inches This is the first edition, first state, of one of the most significant maps in Texas and American history. It is, in fact, "the map that named Texas" -- in a note by the lower Trinity River reading "Mission de los Teijas etablie en 1716" -- the first appearance on a map of any form of the name. Historian Carl Wheat refers to it as "this great map," as it was the most accurate delineation of the Mississippi Valley and the area of present-day Texas for its time. As "the mother and main source of all the later maps of the Mississippi and the whole west of the United States," (J. G. Kohl), it was copied many times over for decades to come. Delisle, Royal Geographer to King Lous XIV, is often called the first scientific cartographer. This is a very good example of the first state, without New Orleans; a second state appeared later the same year. $17,000 (SW193)

MEXICO, OR NEW SPAIN...  

  Herman Moll, London, c.1701 Original outline color; map 6.5 x 7 inches on sheet 12.5 x 8 inches An early, handsome Moll map on a sheet of colorful English text. It reaches from "Part of the English Empire" on the East Coast, past a huge Florida occupying the entire Southeast, and Texas ("Part of Louisiane,") bisected by the "Misifipi," to a prominent Santa Fe. Shows "Caledonia" and "Scots Fort" on the Isthmus of Panama, reflecting a disastrous Scottish attempt to settle there. The delightful text makes the case for an insular California, the tip of which is shown. Light text show-through.  $475  (SW179)

MEXICO AND GUATIMALA

Sidney Hall, London, dated March 1828, publ. 1830 Original outline color, 16 x 20" A significant map in the history of Texas, the first published map based on Stephen F. Austin's first-hand knowledge. In 1822, in Mexico City, England's Simon Bourne made a copy of friend Austin's manuscript map of Texas. Back in London he wrote a book about Texas, but without a map -- having given the unpublished Austin information to cartographer Hall, who used it in his 1830 atlas, crediting Bourne. The map's historical importance has gone largely unrecognized. It also shows Mexico at its greatest extent. Excellent condition, bright outline color, on heavy paper. ("The Colonization of Texas," Martin and Martin, 1976; program of  the Collector's Institute.)  $875 (SW116)

KARTE UBER REISE VON INDEPENDENCE...

(Map of a tour from Independence to Santa Fe, Chihuahua...) Dr. Frederick Wislizenus, Braunschweig, Germany, 1850 Black and white, 19 x 15.75 inches in booklet 9 x 5.75 inches The scarce German edition of a map issued two years earlier in Washington (Wheat 573; this map is Wheat 701). Wislizenus, a St. Louis physician, traveled from Independence to Santa Fe in May-June 1846, and in August to Chihuahua, where he learned Santa Fe had been captured by the Americans. Detained in Mexico, he was able to join Col. Alexander Doniphan's forces and return to the U.S. in June 1847. The map covers all of Texas, Oklahoma, much of New Mexico and part of northern Mexico, with great detail along Wislizenus' route. The routes of Doniphan, Josiah Gregg, General Wool and others are charted. There is also a "Geological Sketch" and  a large, stop-by-stop route map. The booklet's paper covers are detached.  $650  (SW167)

MEXICO, CALIFORNIA AND TEXAS

John Tallis (John Rapkin), London, c.1850 Original and later full outline color, 10 x 13 inches Texas at its greatest extent as a republic is front and center on this delightful map, a collectors' favorite. From the so-called "last illustrated atlas," it has an ornate border and vignettes of "Gold Washing in California," "Mexican Peasantry" and Ruins at "Uxmal, Yucatan." A legend says "The newly discovered GOLD districts" in California are colored in gold. Mild browning in fold. $525  (SW117)

COLTON'S TERRITORIES OF NEW MEXICO AND UTAH

Johnson & Browning, New York, dated 1855, issued 1859-60 (State 8) Original full color, 11x14 inches A particularly sought-after state of this important Colton map. It shows Colona rather than Colorado as the name of a proposed territory and also defines Arizona and Nevada as newly proposed territories, with Arizona south of New Mexico and lettered in light type. Socorro County is in both, and some counties stretch from Texas to California. Utah is divided, with the western half shaping into Nevada (in smaller type). The map is chock-full of historical notes relating to explorers’ routes, the Spanish Trail and Oregon Trail, forts, Indians and much more. Bright copy of an unusual map. $650 (SW182)

KARTE VON TAMAULIPAS, NUEVO LEON AND COAHUILA.

Map in book, DIE LANDER AM UNTERN RIO BRAVO DEL NORTE Book by Adolph Uhde, Heidelberg, 1861 Folding map, black-and-white, 18.5x16 inches; book, 9x6.5 inches This rare book's title can be translated as "The Land Along the Lower Rio Grande." Its author came early to Texas and gives an interesting account of his travels there and elsewhere in the West. His map is exceptional, as it dates the founding of virtually every town, fort, camp, presidio, mission and hacienda in Texas and northern Mexico, as well as locating ranches. It bears only Uhde's name. Both the map and book are little-known; the book was called "quite scarce" 50 years ago and is seldom offered today. Its cover is slightly worn and sunned. $4,750 (SW077)

GRAY'S ATLAS MAP OF TEXAS

Frank Gray, Philadelphia, c.1874 Original color, 12 x 15 inches Because of Texas' unusual shape most single-sheet maps add insets to show the Panhandle, far South Texas or the El Paso region. This exceptionally handsome map breaks through its borders to portray Texas entire. It is packed with information, with railroads marked especially well. Excellent condition. $350  (SW068)

WEST/NORTHWEST

MAR DEL ZUR HISPANIS MARE PACIFICUM

Jan Jansson, Amsterdam, c.1652 Original outline color, 17.25x21.50 inches The first state of "the first chart of the entire Pacific Ocean." (Burden 292) and the first of the Pacific to show California as an island. From the string of fictitious islands in the South Pacific, to the recently discovered coastlines of Australia and New Guinea, to "Japon" and "Corai" and Terra Incognita in the north, this map makes its historical statements in the decorative context of the Golden Age of Cartography. Jansson was one of the great figures of that age. This map is from a German edition of his "Atlas Novus." Very good condition; light browning. $2,850 (NW037)

CARTE DES VOYAGES DU CAPe. CARVER DANS L'INTERIEUR DE L'AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE (in book)

Jonathan Carver/Robert Benard, Paris, 1784 Map black and white, folding, 10.5x13.5 inches, book 5x7.75 inches The first French edition of Carver’s famous 1778 book and map, the latter notable for the first use of the name Oregon on a printed map, in "Source de l’Oregon" applied to a western lake and river. Carver "penetrated farther into the West than any other Englishman before the Revolution" (Howes 215), stimulating curiosity about routes to the Pacific. While the map centers on the Upper Midwest and present-day Wisconsin, it stretches well into the Great Plains. The book is in very good condition, with only minor cover chipping. The map is on heavy paper, with some brown spots on the left margin outside the image. $1,250 (MW016)

COTE NORD-OUESTE DE L'AMERIQUE...1e PARTIE

George Vancouver, Paris, 1799 Black and white, 30x 24 inches This is a magnificent, important sea chart of the California coast, in outstanding condition. Vancouver’s voyages in the years 1792-94 were the last and longest of the great explorations of the Pacific, clarifying its outlines and finally disproving the fabled Northwest Passage. This chart covers the greater portion of the coast in fine detail, from just north of San Francisco to well south of San Diego, with superb insets of both harbors. Vancouver’s ship was the first non-Spanish vessel to enter the harbor of San Francisco. Many Spanish missions are located on the map, which is Plate 4 from the French edition of Vancouver’s atlas accompanying "A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific and Round the World..." The French edition has been termed far superior to the English. Near-mint condition. $1,100 (NW020)

CALIFORNIEN, OREGON, UTAH UND NEU-MEJICO

(revise for other map) Carl Flemming/F. Handtke, Hildburghausen, Germany, c. 1848 Light outline color, 15.5 x 13.75 inches Some of the best, most interesting maps of the emerging West came out of Germany. In this uncommon example, despite its ranges of mythical mountains, the detail is finer than most American mapmakers were achieving at the time. River systems are excellent, and many Indian tribes are located. "Saltlake City" is also called "New Jerusalem." One minor brownspot. $285  (NW032)

CALIFORNIA

J. H. Colton, New York, 1855 (published 1859) Original color, 12.75 x 15.75 inches A handsome map of California just before the Civil War, with a fine  large inset of central San Francisco. Highly detailed as to roads, railroads, physical features, explorers' routes, etc. Colorful camps and settlements in the gold country include Yankee Jim, Bidwell's Bar and still-existing Rough & Ready. In the northwest, Klamath County no longer exists. Excellent condition. $285 (NW034)

SAN FRANCISCO

Eduard Hildebrandt (Wagner), Berlin, c.1865 Original chromolithograph, 11x14.5 inches This scarce and beautiful chromolithograph by R. Wagner is after a famous set of watercolors of cities painted by the German artist Hildebrandt from his world travels. The view is up California Street toward Nob Hill. A Hildebrandt 1847 oil painting of Rio de Janeiro sold for more than $300,000 at a London auction in 2001. Excellent condition; trimmed to edge and mounted, as issued.  $2,000  (NW030)

MEXICO/WEST INDIES

INSULAE AMERICANAE IN OCEANO SEPTENTRIONALI

Guiljelmus (Willem Jans Zoon) Blaeu, Amsterdam, c.1638 Original pastel color, 15x20.75 inches Blaeu's great map of the West Indies and surrounding lands epitomizes the Golden Age of Cartography in 17th-century Holland and the supremacy of the House of Blaeu. Three ornamental cartouches, three compass roses and five sailing ships contribute to the overall grace and beauty of this work, making it one of Blaeu's most dramatic maps. "Cartographically the map draws on the extremely rare map by Hessel Gerritsz, c.1631." (Burden 242.) French text on the verso is titled "Les Isles de l'Amerique." Excellent condition, faint browning. $2,250 (MC011)

INSULAE AMERICANAE IN OCEANO SEPTENTRIONALI...

Nicolas Visscher, Amsterdam, 1680 Original wash color, 18x22 inches Superb original color and fine dark cartouches enhance the natural beauty of this map of the Caribbean, which actually extends as far north as Lake Erie and Chesapeake Bay. Cherubs and mermaids, eight ships and three native canoes add to its appeal. The map is rife with geographical myths and unknowns, including a misplaced Mississipi River (or rivers), two nonexistent lakes in the Southeast, a huge one in South America, and the location of one of the greatest lures of all -- El Dorado. The paper is an attractive light cream. Three moderate stains in the blank margins. $2,200 (MC016)

ISOLE ANTILI, LA CUBA, LA SPAGNUOLA...

Vicenzo Maria Coronelli, Venice, 1696 Black and white, 10x17 inches Maps by the great Coronelli, Royal Cosmographer of the Republic of Venice, were based on the latest reports from Jesuit priests in the Americas. They are prized for their accuracy. for the quality of their engraving, and for their scarcity -- all exemplified here. The map is from Coronelli’s "Corso Geograpfico Universale," published in Venice by the Accademia degli Argonauti. Very good condition. $1,000 (MC010)

OVA DESIGNATIO INSULAE JAMAICAE

Matthaeus Seutter, Augsburg, c.1740 Original wash color, 19x21.5 inches A spectacular map of Jamaica, with a superb cartouche of sugar cane harvesting and processing and a block of descriptive text in Latin (how's your Latin?). One of the most decorative maps ever made of the island. Excellent condition. $1,000 (MC007)