Antique Maps Auction Preview Week of November 28, 2005

Currently in progress, the quarterly auction from our friends at Old World Auctions, an online, telephone, and mail auction that is a mainstay of the antique maps and prints auction world. It's always a reliable auction to bid at, and the descriptions by owners Curt and Marti Griggs are not only accurate, but the format of their descriptions has become something of a benchmark in the antique map and print world.

A Great Auction For Antique Maps In A Wide Price Range

Old World Auctions usually has a good range of prices in their sales, and a wide variety of material. This time, in world maps, lot 27 is a nice looking Hondius/Jansson double hemisphere published in 1666. A beautiful map, depicting California as an island, it carries a presale estimate of $11,000-13,000. Lot 22, Munster's 1558 woodblock world map has a presale estimate of $2,300-2,500. A world map by the Jesuit scholar A. Kircher, published in 1682, depicts subterranean tunnels connecting the oceans! It carries an estimate of $1,100-1,400, which I think may turn out to be lowball. (lot 28).

Antique Maps Of The Americas

Material relating to the Americas includes Visscher's Western Hemisphere, circa 1658, with an estimate of $3,000-4,000 (lot 77); Ortelius's La Florida, the first printed map of the southeastern United States, (lot 91, $1,800-2,000); and a beautiful De Wit chart of the Caribbean, actually extending all the way to New England, with a presale estimate of $2,300-2,750 (lot 93). DeLisle's Carte De La Louisiane, ca. 1718, is an important map for a number of reasons, including the first appearance in print of the word "Texas." There has been some restoration and some color fading; still, it garners an estimate of $4,000-5,000 (lot 167). Lot 174 is Visscher's enormously important Novi Belgii, here offered in the earliest obtainable second state. It is a landmark map that was the foundation for New England maps for the next century. The presale estimate is $9,000-12,000. While these are some highlights, there are plenty of American and state maps with more modest estimates, covering the period from the 1700s to the late 19th century.

Maps From Around The World

This auction, as usual, has a good selection of maps and prints from different parts of the world. Items from Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa are well-represented. Only the Oceanica category seems a little light this quarter. Closing out the sale: a selection of prints, incunabula, and books (both rare and reference). There are a few atlases in the books section, including a nice example of the small, but elegant, Philipp Cluver Geography, 1686, (lot 850, estimate $1,600-1,800). And last, but certainly not least, the full, 12-volume Senate edition of the Railroad Surveys, 1853-56, described by Carl Wheat as the "cornerstone work in a Western Americana collection." (lot 862, $6,000-7,000).

The Old World Auctions sale ends on December 7 at 10 pm EST.

Louisiana Purchase Auction At Neal's Of New Orleans In December

On December 3 & 4, Neal Auction Company based in New Orleans is holding a Louisiana Purchase Auction. The sale will be held in the Mississippi Arts Pavilion in Jackson, MS. While the sale features a wide array of goods, from furniture to painting, there are several items that are of interest to antique maps and prints collectors.

Audubon Birds And Quadrupeds

Lot 149 is an 1856, 7-volume octavo edition of Audubon's Birds of America. The presale estimate is $25,000-35,000, but condition is not listed on the website at this time. Lot 150 is a set of the octavo second edition of Audubon's Quadrupeds, with an estimate of $5,000-10,000. Neal's website leaves a lot to be desired in terms of usability, and requiring the user to click back and forward to different screens, to see if there happens to be a condition report, was irritating. (So I stopped doing it).

A Rare New Orleans City Plan

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention lot 454, an 1815 plan of the City of New Orleans, by city surveyor J. Tanesse. The 18" x 31" plan, described as "rare" by Neal's, comes with an interesting presale estimate of $18,000-25,000. Seems high, but who can tell?

More Mid-19th Century Maps

Lot 780 is a mid-19th century Colton wall map, one of a series of wall maps that the Colton firm issued around that time. The estimate of $1,000-1,500 seems quite modest. And last but not least, Neal's seems to breaking new ground with their presale estimate for lot 899, the Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana map from what they describe as a circa 1900 Johnson & Browning atlas. As if that wasn't strange enough, they claim it is printed rather than hand-colored, and slapped an estimate of $2,500-3,500 on it. As most map dealers can attest, you can get a complete Johnson & Browning atlas for that kind of cash (and it should be dated around 1860, with hand-coloring). Of course, this particular map is in a frame, so maybe that's where the value is.

Blogging About Antique Maps Turns Fun!

Who would have guessed it! The tweedy denizens of the antique maps and prints world are finally having fun in the blogosphere! Well, sort of the blogosphere, as you will see...

The Map Room Blog Leads With: "Arader Buys A Map"

On Sunday, November 20 our friends at the The Map Room Blog led with this headline: Map History Latest News: Arader Buys A Map. Now I love the Map Room Blog, and think they do an excellent job. So I knew this had to be a story worth following up...

The Arader Story Begins With News Sleuth Tony Campbell

It turns out that The Map Room Blog is linking to what appears to be a new page on the famous Map History/History of Cartography site. The new page is called Latest News. Here, Tony is providing text links (see what I mean about "sort of" having fun in the blogosphere? Tony -- don't just do unclickable text links -- set up a blog!) So what is all the fuss about Graham Arader?

Graham Arader Really Did Buy A Map

Well, I'm not really sure what all the fuss is about, actually. Yes, he did buy a map. Tony says that according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Google Alerts, anyone?) Graham Arader III bought an antique map which was "made in 1784 by Col. George Woods, and was known as Penn's Charter of Pittsburgh. It's one of three hand-drawn maps made at the behest of Tench Francis, an agent for the William Penn family..."

Okay, so there you have it. Graham really did buy that map. Apparently he paid $55,000 for it. But if you've been following the auctions recently, that was small potatoes compared to what some other items have been fetching. And speaking of auctions...

No Major Antique Map Auctions This Week, But Stay Tuned

Coming in December, Old World Auctions will be holding its last sale of 2005. Bonhams has a Natural History sale in early December and a maps sale in mid-December. Christies is selling an important edition of Audubon's Birds of America on the 15th, as well as Books and Manuscripts. And on December 8, Swann Galleries is holding what promises to be the very important sale of 150 rare maps and atlases from the Mark Babinski Collection. Stay tuned for more detailed previews of the upcoming sales.

Antique Maps Auction Preview Week Of November 14, 2005

Major California Antique Map Collection Comes To Auction

Only one auction of note to talk about this coming week, but it’s a big one: On Thursday, November 17, at 1 PM PST, PBA Galleries of San Francisco is holding a sale entitled: The Cartography Of California, 16th – 19th Centuries. Maps from a private collection. Lots of top shelf California and west coast antique maps up for sale, including more than 40 maps depicting California as an island. The phenomenon of California as an island began appearing on maps around 1620, and lasted for about one hundred years. Such maps are prized today by collectors.

Ortelius’s Landmark Americas Map

One of the most beautiful, as well as important maps of the Americas is that by Abraham Ortelius, Americae Sive Novi Orbis Nova Descriptio. (c. 1573). As was common at the time, the west coast of America is shown too far to the west. PBA is offering the rare second state, in excellent condition, with a presale estimate of $7,000-10,000.(Lot 126). Another example of the same map, considerably less rare, is also in the sale, and there the estimate is $2,500-3,500 (Lot 127).

John Speed’s America

Equally stunning is lot 156, John Speed’s America, showing the western hemisphere, and California as an island. This example, with a presale estimate of $8,000-12,000, was published around 1676. Attractive vignettes border the map, which according to the catalog is in excellent condition.

Sanson’s California

Another landmark map is Nicolas Sanson’s Amerique Septentrionale, (1651). Lot 140, it is an important map in the mapping of California, showing as it does several changes to the island coastline. It is also notable for being the first printed map to delineate the five Great Lakes in recognizable form. Sanson’s masterpiece has a presale estimate of $3,000-5,000.

Items From Beyond California

The sale is not restricted just to representations of California. Some important antique atlases are also in the sale, including John Cary’s New Universal Atlas (1808), lot 197, with a presale estimate of $6,000-9,000; David Burr’s New Universal Atlas (1835), lot 135, estimated $7,000-10,000; an 1856 2-volume Colton atlas, lot 199, estimated at $3,000-5,000. All in all, lots of goodies in this auction for antique map fans, and well worth a visit to PBA Galleries website.

Antique Map And Print Shop Opens In New York City

It's always good news when an antique map and print shop opens up -- and I don't mean on the internet. It's even better news when the opening is actually the reopening of an old-established name -- in this case, Pageant Print Shop of New York City.

Antique Print Shop Reopens After 5 Years

Pageant specializes in affordable antique maps and prints, and collectors with a long memory may recall their previous shop, which closed in 1999, on Houston Street in Manhattan. Owners Rebecca and Shirley Solomon, who have maintained their business via shows and the internet, have found new premises at 69 E. Fourth St., between the Bowery and Second Ave. It opens this week, and is the fifth location in the store's 50-year history.

15,000 Items In Stock

Pay a visit to the just-opened Pageant, and you'll find some 15,000 items in the store, including such treasures as antique maps, views, botanical prints, political cartoons, rare books, and more. At the time of writing, I did not have a phone number for Pageant -- if you know it, please feel free to post a comment to this blog.

A Rich Tradition Continues

Pageant Print Shop has a rich history in New York City. The original shop was opened by Rebecca and Shirley's father in 1946, on his return from service in World War II. He opened the shop on the famed Bookseller's Row, along Manhattan's Fourth Avenue. We wish Rebecca and Shirley much luck with their exciting and continuing venture.

Antique Maps Auction Preview Week Of November 7, 2005

A Great Upcoming Week At The Auctions For Antique Maps and Prints

A very busy week coming up for antique map and print buyers at the auctions. The week kicks off with a sale at Bonhams, in London, in their Photography, Books, Maps, & Manuscripts Sale. Up for grabs at Bonhams: maps of the Americas by Homann and Janssonius; a nice, 3-volume S.D.U.K. set of maps from 1844; plenty of Blaeu and Speed English County maps, and a nice assortment of travel books.

Over to New York, also on the 8th of November, where Doyle’s will be selling Autographs, Rare Books, and Maps. Lot 2038 is essentially a set of loose bird prints by Buffon; lot 2115 is David Burr’s Map of the Counties of New York, Queens, Kings, and Richmond, with what is surely a low estimate at $200-300; DeLisle’s North America is also available. Most of the antique maps in the Doyle sale fall toward the lower end of the price range, with Ortelius’s Africa, for example, being one of the top antique maps for the whole sale.

Some Enticing Material At Dominic Winter

The antique map and print "auction week" continues on November 9, with a sale at Dominic Winter Book Auctions in England. The highlight of the show is lot 12, a 1647 edition of Blaeu’s Nieuwe Atlas, the England & Wales volume. The estimate is 8000-12,000 GBP. Some very nice items in this sale, including lot 9, an “excellent” set of Captain Belcher’s Last of the Arctic Voyages, estimate 500-700 GBP; Burton’s Exploration of the Highlands of Brazil, (lot 16, estimate 400-600 GBP;) lot 41, Pieter van den Keere’s 1646 atlas, containing 83 maps, estimate 2,000-3,000 GBP, and rounding out a nice selection of travel and topography, Teesdale’s New British Atlas, 1829 (lot 110, estimate 500-800 GBP.) The natural history section of the sale includes Loudon’s Flower Garden of Ornamental Annuals, 1840 (lot 137, 1,000-1,500 GBP.) A likely target for antique botanical print lovers is lot 149, Robert Warner’s Select Orchidaceous Plants, 1865-75, containing 39 hand-colored lithographs. The estimate is 2,000-3,000 in pounds sterling.

Antique Maps And Antique Prints On The West Coast

It’s back to Bonham’s in San Francisco and Los Angeles on November 14, where the by-now travel and gavel-weary antique maps and prints fans will find some of both to restore their spirits. There is a group of antique English county maps by John Speed, including the ever-popular Oxfordshire, starting with lot 1041. For those in search of Audubon bird prints, lot 1054 is an octavo edition of Birds of America, with a whopping $80,000-100,000 estimate. Printed views of Rome are in full view with lot 1103, Cassini’s 1779 collection of 80 engraved plates of the city and surroundings, estimated at $1500-2500.

Antique Maps And Prints For Those With Deep Pockets

If you are still in the mood for antique maps, and ready to spend some really big bucks, then the Christie’s sale in London on November 16 is for you. A 1595 edition of Ortelius’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is up for grabs, with a presale estimate of 60,000-80,000 GBP.

To round out the week, try Sotheby’s in London on the 17th. Their sale of Valuable Printed Books, including travel, natural history, and atlases, is a feast for the eyes and hearts of antique maps and prints lovers everywhere. A wonderful selection if you have the bank account to play