One of the first printed views of Venice in an excellent example. This well-executed, double-page view captures the singular beauty of the city on the lagoon. The work is generally accurate, save for the mountains looming too closely; it was adapted from the superb Breydenbach view (1486), which was based..... More
Very scarce—one issue only of this very early engraving. This is earliest collectible map of the eastern seaboard and the earliest to provide a representation of the New York City area. It is also the first map listed in Palmer's "Chronological List of Maps & Charts [of Bermuda]" and is..... More
Bertelli’s Italia Novamente posta in Luce, one of the rarest and most attractive La Freri maps of Italy. Borri reports that only a few examples of this finely engraved map have surfaced: “Di questa magnifica carta, quasi sconosciuta sino a pochi anni orsono, sono noti pochissimi esemplari …” He further..... More
“The first surviving printed map of the whole of London and Westminster” (Whitfield). Moreover, it was the very first plan to appear in the Civitatis Orbis Terrarum, the earliest atlas of city plans and views ever published. Internal evidence such as the presence of the spire on St. Paul’s suggests..... More
A very fine example of the first edition of this foundational map. Three maps are displayed on a single sheet, including the first separately printed map of Florida and the Southeast. "One of the half-dozen most important mother-maps of southeastern North America. This map probably had more influence than any..... More
An excellent example of the second plate (see below) of this important map. It was the "first map of the Americas to appear in a modern atlas," (Schwartz) and one that “had a great influence on the future cartography of the New World” (Burden). When this map was issued, the..... More
A superb example of an early map of eastern Asia that includes all of India, most of China, Indochina, the Philippines, and the Malay Peninsula including Singapore, which is here called “Cingatola.” Characteristic of the earliest European maps of the area, the coast of China is a relatively straight, diagonal..... More
A gorgeous example, in vibrant original color, of the first full folio-size map specifically of North America and the first overall produced in the Netherlands. It was preceded only by the smaller but very rare Forlani map of 1565 and the yet much smaller derivative of it by Porcacchi, published..... More
In vibrant original color, this is a spectacular example of Ortelius' second map (though third plate) of the Americas, improving upon its predecessor in many important ways (see below), most apparently in the removal of the large bulge on the west coast of South America. This updated revision of the..... More
A solid copy in its original binding of Filips Galle’s improved version of the first small-scale version of a folio atlas ever published, and the first edition published by Vrients. Ortelius’ groundbreaking, large-format atlas proved to be such an enormously successful publishing phenomenon that it spawned several editions in a...... More
An excellent example in an original binding of the work that set the standard for the small atlas. “The small maps are extremely well engraved; they are neat and clear and elegantly composed” (Van der Krogt, p. 373). A measure of their quality is that the maps “served many purposes..... More
One of the most visually distinctive, early maps of the Western Hemisphere. Its cartography was the work of Gerard Mercator, "the greatest name in geographical science after Ptolemy" (Tooley), but the map’s design and execution were the work of the elder’s grandson, Michael, shortly after Gerard’s death in 1594. The..... More
A fine example of a “map of great importance” (Burden). It was the first and only cartographic document reflecting an early plan for the colonization of New England. The map "locates twenty patentees among whom the region extending from Cape Cod to Maine was..... More
A very nice example of this rare and fundamentally important map, the earliest English map specifically of North America that is realistically acquirable. The Briggs was also among the very earliest maps to include the key place names associated with early English colonization: Plymouth, New England, Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard..... More
First atlas issue, in warm contemporary color of this classic Dutch map of Bermuda. As were most 17th century maps of Bermuda, Hondius’ was based on Richard Norwood’s 1618 chart, executed on behalf of the Bermuda Company. The map thus includes the parishes and tribes allotted to the company’s principal..... More
A beautiful example of one of the earliest, acquirable maps to focus on what is now the United States. The Jansson-Hondius was also one of the first Dutch atlas maps to show California as an island, preceded only by the Hondius world map of 1630. A note on the map..... More
One of the most richly decorative, early maps of Italy in vibrant color of the period. The map’s title, in Italian, is flanked by two caryatid-like women. Below the cartouche, the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, are nursed by their adoptive wolf mother. The sea is embellished with..... More
A beautiful example of this landmark in the mapping of South Africa. It appeared in Dudley’s Arcano de Mare, “the first sea atlas in which every chart was based on Mercator’s projection, the first to show prevailing winds and currents in the main harbours and anchorages, the first to give..... More
First state of Robert Dudley’s rare, beautiful chart of the eastern coast of Greenland. It was published in Dudley’s Arcano de Mare, one of the most strikingly beautiful works of maritime cartography ever produced and the first sea atlas by an Englishman. “It was the first sea atlas in which..... More
A very attractive, near-mint example. Speed's handsomely engraved work is one of the earliest English maps of the area and one of the first to demarcate the borders of colonial Virginia and Maryland. Just three years before the publication of Speed’s map, Augustine Herrman had conducted the first thorough surveys..... More
This was the best, generally available map of its day of Southeast Asia. Dashed lines show the routes of trading vessels throughout the area, including the route that passed through present day Singapore. The much contended Spice Islands are shown in good detail as is the Philippines. The northern coast..... More
A remarkably detailed and beautiful plan of Florence and its immediate surroundings, including Fiesole. No fewer than 228 structures are listed and keyed to the plan. In a refreshing departure from the usual subjects that ordinarily flank early maps, this work offers several scenes of cultural events, most being athletic..... More
Superb original-color example of the Renard edition of one of the most beautiful 17th-century charts of the area. Schilder described the maps of the De Wit firm as being "distinguished by their excellent craftsmanship, exactness and beauty." Romeyn de Hooghe’s intricately etched cartouche shows a European trader accompanied by a...... More
The rare first state (without New Orleans) of the first edition in a superb example. “This map is the mother and main source of all the later maps” (Kohl) of the interior United States and the Mississippi River. It was, in fact, “the first large-scale map accurately showing the lower..... More
A striking city plan of Rome by the Augsburg cartographer/publisher Matthäus Seutter (1678-1757), here in a vibrant original hand-color example. The map is based on Giovanni Battista Falda’s (1643-78) important 1667 two-sheet plan of Rome, known as his pianta piccola, which was “an instant success” and quickly became “one of..... More