![Caelestem Hic Terram Inspicias Terrestre Q[uam] Caelum. C./ BERLINGHIERI PTOLEMY, F](/pictures/thumb/267.jpg?v=1562683747)
One the earliest and rarest printed world maps; the first to be published in northern Italy. The Berlinghieri is certainly the rarest of the early Ptolemiac world maps, aside from the unobtainable 1477 Bologna edition. It is also the only early Ptolemaic world map to employ the same projection used..... More
Rare and striking example, in vibrant original color, of one of the earliest printed maps to name Armenia and to focus on the Caucasus and Georgia regions. The map was prepared by Dominus Nicolaus Germanus, a Benedictine monk from Saxony. He was also the author of several manuscript copies of..... More
A very rare, true incunable edition of this medieval mappamundi from the first Lyons printing of 1491. One of the finest examples we've seen of this map in any edition. It is a direct descendant of the 1475 world map that was published in the Rudimentum Novitiorum, which Shirley describes..... More
First edition and an outstanding copy of the first illustrated encyclopedia published at the dawn of the discovery period. As a comprehensive contemporary picture of geographical and historical knowledge, the 'Nuremberg Chronicle' as it is called, offers nothing less than a history of the world, and, in its own fashion..... More
Striking and very early panoramic view of this very important medieval city. One of the largest cities in Europe in the early years of the Holy Roman Empire, it was home of the first Emporer, Otto I (depicted in the view atop a column?), who is buried at its cathedral..... More
A beautiful example, in bold, rare original color, of the ancient map of the Arabian Peninsula from the most important edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia of the 16th century. It is among the earliest acquirable maps to focus on the region, and it is among the most beautiful of any Waldseemuller..... More
The earliest iteration of the so-called Daniel’s Dream Map, also known as the Wittenberg World Map. The dream embodied in the map is that of the fifth century B. C. prophet Daniel, who envisioned the fate of history’s great empires as personified by various beasts depicted on the map. ..... More
Very attractive, early woodcut map of southwestern Germany that richly evokes the Black Forest region and Rhine River valley along the German borders with France and Switzerland. It is one of the earliest maps of this region to be based on modern, that is to say non-Ptolemaic sources. It is..... More
Very scarce—one edition only. The 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 thus earliest obtainable map with Bermuda (here..... More
A very attractive bird’s-eye view of the Swiss city known since Roman times for its restorative mineral hot springs, seen in the view at far right in the middle distance. Baden’s spa remained an attraction through much of the city’s history and was visited by Mozart, Thomas Mann, Nietzsche, and..... More
Attractive woodcut view of Solothurn, including its churches and famous clock tower. The age, and perhaps the condition of the city’s defenses are attested to by trees sprouting from them in several places. Indeed, the forest seems to press closely against the city. Deer can be seen grazing in the..... More
Attractive woodcut view of the walled town of Cheb (Egra) now a small town near the Czech border with Germany but one of the larger towns in Bohemia in the 15th and 16th centuries. As the Latin title points out, The town had been part of the Holy Roman Empire;..... More
An excellent example of this early, woodcut world map, rich in the imagery of the Discovery Period with its many sea monsters and surrounding wind heads. The map provides an overview of the known world of the mid-16th century, just after the first great wave of New World discoveries. The..... More
A very rare, 16th-century world that had been described as lost, until it surfaced in the catalogue of Guglielmo Libri in 1864. Shirley states that only four or five examples of the map are presently known. The weight of the paper strongly suggests the map..... More
The rare first state of an important and in some ways groundbreaking map. The woodblock for this map was destroyed shortly after its publication in a fire in November of 1557, hence its rarity. The map was compiled by the great Venetian cartographer, Giacomo Gastaldi, and appeared in a three-volume..... More
Excellent example of the earliest separate map of the entire Western Hemisphere. This was also the earliest map to refer to the Pacific Ocean (along with Munster's world map) by a variant of its present name, Mare pacificum. It was one of earliest acquirable maps to show Japan prominently, which..... More
Separately published. First state of this very attractive and rare map of Corfu, featuring a well-detailed vignette of the fortress city of Corfu. Not in map catalogue records; one copy at auction in the last three decades. The map is oriented with south at the top. Controlled by Venice from..... More
Separately published. These are among the earliest separate maps of the respective islands. This single sheet with the two maps appeared in a very rare, assembled-to-order, Italian atlas; such atlases are known under the generic name of La Freri, after the Roman publisher and bookseller, who compiled many of them..... More
This rare first issue from the first standardized atlas ever published. Three editions of Ortlius’ Theatrum appeared in 1570, and this map was from the first of these three. More
A very early issue from a 1570 edition. Three maps on a single sheet each showing important parts of the classical world--Asia Minor (western Turkey), Egypt, and Carthage (Tunis)--but here depicted with then up-to-date cartography. More
Fascinating engraving containing two aerial views of the city, one as it was at the beginning of the first century BCE, and the other a contemporaneous view. Each is accompanied by legends listing important structures and places that are keyed to the plans. In the lower right is a vignette..... More
The first issue of this early engraving of five Moroccan port cities, including Tangier, Asilah, the fishing port of Safi, and the ancient city of Sale’. Cueta is an autonomous Spanish city opposite Gibraltar. More
A very early issue of the stately world map that appeared in the first modern atlas; it provided the picture of the world that would prevail for many decades to come. Using the freshest information available, Ortelius employed as his chief source Mercator’s profoundly important world map of 1569, on..... More
The first state of this engraving, presenting panoramic views of three great Westphalian cities: the cathedral city of Munster, the trade city of Osnabruck, and the Rhineland city of Wesel. The verso text describes the towns in some detail: with respect to Munster and Osnabruck it comments specifically on the..... More
A beautiful, detailed bird’s eye view of the Saxon city of Magdeburg, printed in the 1572 first issue of Braun & Hogenberg’s Civitates Orbis Terrarum, the first city atlas. The city’s churches are accurately depicted and named, and its medieval defenses – the walls, the moat– are shown as well..... More