Antique World Maps

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Antique Maps, rare maps, valuable maps, old maps

Antique Sets of Maps of the World & Continents

[Double-hemisphere World & Continents maps] Guillaume De L'Isle.

[World & Five Continents.]

Augsburg: Jeremias Wolff, c.1720. Six plates, each c.430 x 640mm. Coloured. Two small repairs to margins of 'World'; reverse centrefold repairs to 'Europe', 'North America' & 'South America' otherwise very good.
Double-hemisphere world map and five continents (North and South America separate).
DELI0012

£4,800

[Set of maps of the World & 6 Continents] Victor Levasseur.

Planisphère; Europe; Afrique; Amèrique Septentrionale; Amèrique Méridionale; Asie; Océanie.

Paris, c.1845. Seven steel engravings, printed area c.320 x 430mm. Original body colour.
A fine set, each map with bright body colour on the maps, within a highly decorative engraved border, with vignettes of views, costumes and animals. Published in one of the last decorative atlases, the 'Atlas Universel Illustré', which, unlike earlier sets, has grouped the East Indies, Australasia and the Pacific on one plate, 'Océanie'. On the map of the Americas Texas is a republic: the population table gives it a population of only 200,000.
LEVA0014

£1,250

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Antique Maps of the World

[First Issue of Vrient's Miniature World Map] Jan Baptista Vrients.

[Globus Terrestris.]

Antwerp, Vrients, 1601. 90 x 125mm. Coloured.
When Vrients published his first edition of Ortelius's Epitome he introduced this new double-hemisphere map, alongside the original oval map engraved by Galle. It is untitled, although there is 'Globus Terrestris' in letterpress above the map. Under the spheres is a rustic scene, with a church in the centre. SHIRLEY: 231.
VRIE0001

£750

[Double-hemisphere World map] Nicolas De Fer

Mappe-Monde ou Carte Generale de la Terre...

Paris, 1705. 230 x 340mm. Coloured. Mss. pagination in upper margin.
Double-hemisphere world map with California as an island, decorated with roundel portraits of nine explorers, including Columbus, Vespucci, Magellan, Marco Polo & Drake. Early mapping of North America with the Great Lakes in outline.
DEFE0005

£650

[Double-hemisphere world map of Rosaccio] Girolamo Ruscelli.

Orbis Terrae Compendiosa Descriptio.

Venice, Lasor a Varea, 1713. 180 x 260mm.
Double-hemisphere world map. SHIRLEY: 217.
ROSA0001

£495

[Double-hemisphere world map] N. Jonge.

Globus Terrestris.

Copenhagen, Jonge, c.1760. 175 x 255mm. Original colour.
Double-hemisphere world map, with the title on a banner.
JONG0001

£340

[World map of a buccaneer] Isaak Tirion.

Nieuwe Wereld Kaart, waar in de Reizen van den Hr. Anson Rondsom de Wereld...

Amsterdam, 1764. 235 x 410mm. Original colour.
World map on Mercator's Projection, designed to show the route of Commodore Anson around the world on what was in reality a buccaneer's trip. He captured a Spanish treasure ship: when he returned to London he needed thirty wagons to transfer the silver booty to the Tower of London.
TIRI0013

£250

[Double-hemisphere world map] Antonio Zatta.

Il Mappamondo o sia Descrizione Generale del Globo.

Venice, 1774. 285 x 390mm. Original colour. Faint damp staining in the bottom margin, not affecting map.
Double-hemisphere world map, with allegorical figures of the Four Continents in the corners. Published just after the news of Cook's first circumnavigation was published, his route is marked but New Zealand remains unrecognisable yet shown correctly as two main islands.
ZATT0051

£890

[Double hemisphere World map] Didier Robert de Vaugondy.

Mappemonde dressée suivant les nouvelles relations et assujettie aux observations astronomiques.

Paris, Fortin, 1778. 480 x 750mm. Coloured.
Double hemisphere world map with a fine rococo cartouche filling the cusps. On the map only the route of Captain Cook's First Voyage, with New Zealand and Australia, have been added; he had yet to make his Third, fatal, voyage, so the Bering Straits still show the spurious discoveries of de Fonte. In the lower left hemisphere the outline of Europe has been added over the Antipodes for comparison
ROBE0034

£980

[Miniature double-hemisphere world map after Robert de Vaugondy.] Didier Robert de Vaugondy.

Mappemonde Par le S.r Robert de Vaugondy Avec Privilege du Roy 1780.

Paris, c.1780. 150 x 300mm.
Miniature double-hemisphere world map after Robert de Vaugondy.
ROBE0037

£160

[Double hemisphere world map] Reilly, Franz von.

Karte van der Erde...

Vienna, 1795. 400 x 650mm. Original colour. A few small spots.
Double hemisphere world map, newly updated with the discoveries from Cook's Third and final voyage in the North Pacific.
REIL0010

£350

[World on Mercator's Projection] Antonio Zatta.

Il Mappamondo o sia Descrizione Generale del Globo Ridotto in Quadro.

Venice, 1795. 295 x 430mm. Original colour.
The world on Mercator's Projection. Despite the date of 1795 and the inclusion of the route taken by Cook in his first circumnavigation, the coastlines of New Zealand and the Bering Straits have not been corrected.
ZATT0052

£490

[World Hemispheres maps] John Thomson.

Western Hemisphere; Eastern Hemisphere.

Edinburgh, 1816. Two plates, each c. 570 x 530mm. Original colour. A few marginal repairs outside maps otherwise very good.
Maps of the Western Hemisphere & Eastern Hemisphere.
THOM0018

£450

[Double hemisphere world map] Jehosaphat Aspin.

The World for the illustration of the Abbè Gaultier's Geographical Games.

London, J.Harris, 1823. 270 x 470mm. Original colour.
Double hemisphere world map, designed for an 'educational' game.
ASPI0001

£275

[Set of Six Maps of the World.] Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.

[The World on Six Sheets.]

London: Baldwin & Cradock, 1831. 6 steel engravings, printed area c.390 x 320mm. Original colour.
The set was four maps around the equator and the north and south poles.
SDUK0060

£250

[Set of Three Maps of the World.] Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.

The World on Mercator's Projection; The World as Known to the Ancients; Western Hemisphere [&] Eastern Hemisphere.

London: Baldwin & Cradock, 1831-42. 4 steel engravings, two sheets c.400 x 620, two 380 x 330mm. Original colour.

SDUK0061

£250

[World map on Mercator's Projection] Victor Levasseur.

Planisphère.

Paris, c.1850. Steel engraving, printed area 320 x 430mm. Original outline colour.
The World on Mercator's Projection, with ornate vignette borders.
LEVA0012

£195

[Atlantic currents] A.K. Johnston.

Physical Chart of the Atlantic Ocean Showing the Form and Direction of the Currents; Distribution of heat at the Surface, Navigation and Trade Routes, Banks, Rocks &c.

Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood & Sons, 1856. Steel engraving, 500 x 600mm. Original colour.
A facinating chart depicting the difficulties in navigating the Atlantic, with the currents and winds making a direct route impossible. The routes of many famous voyages are marked.
JOHN0003

£48

[South Atlantic sea chart] Admiralty.

South Atlantic. 1883.

London: Hydrographic Office of the Admiralty, 1852-1937. Steel engraving, 870 x 820mm.
A large and detailed chart marking the currents of the South Atlantic.
ADMI0001

£150

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Antique Maps of the North & South Poles

[Double-hemisphere World map on a Polar Projection] Louis Charles Desnos.

Histoire de la Découverte Des Mondes Nouveau et Inconnu.

Paris, c.1770. 290 x 455mm. Original colour.
Double-hemisphere world map, but centred on the Poles. On the map is the 'Mer de l'Ouest', the mythical inland sea in North America. The eastern coastline of Australia is unbroken from New Guinea to Tasmania, via New Caledonia.
DESN0001

£160

[Miniature Map of the Southern Hemisphere.] William Faden.

Southern Hemisphere.

London: Faden, 1798. 110 x 130mm. Original colour.
Still showing Tasmania as part of mainland Australia.
FADE0001

£98

[Double-hemisphere World Map on a Polar Projection] F.A. Garnier.

Tableau des Régions Circumpolaires ou Carte Sphéroïdale des Deux Pôles...

Paris: Renouard, 1862. 530 x 720mm. Original colour.
A large double-hemisphere map showing the world from the poles to the equator, with insets showing Magnetic Dip. Published in the 'Atlas Spheroidal & Universel de Géographie'.
GARN0002

£150

[View of Antarctic Icebergs] Capt. Astil.

Island of Ice, seen by the Ship Æolus, July 9th 1809, Lat. 51.36.S Long. 130.W.

London: J.Stratford, 1810. 235 x 180mm.

ASTI0001

£39

[Early Exploration of the American Arctic] Churchill.

the Map of Groenland.

London, 1704. 140 x 295mm. Some vague toning.
Published by Churchill to illustrate the voyage of the Dane Jens Munk, who led a Danish expedition in search of the Northwest Passage in 1619-20, during which he was the first to completely map Hudson Bay. Here the Bay has two names, "King Christians Sea" and "The New Sea"; on the west shore is marked "Monks Winter harbour". Greenland is shown as a large landmass stretching from America almost to Spitzbergen. The mythical Frobisher's Passage through Greenland and island of Friesland are marked.
CHUR0003

£175

[Early Exploration of the American Arctic] Churchill.

[The North Atlantic.]

London, 1704. 140 x 295mm. Slight creasing.
The North Atlantic with the British Isles, Iceland, Greenland and Labrador. Also marked is the mythical island of Friesland.
CHUR0004

£125

[Arctic] Isaak Tirion.

Nieuwe Kaart, van de Noord Pool...

Amsterdam, 1735. 235 x 410mm. Original colour.
The North Pole map, showing south to the island of California, the Straits of Gibraltar & Japan.
TIRI0014

£175