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BLAEU, Jan (1596-1673)

[World] Nova et Accuratissima Totius Terrarum Orbis Tabula

Amsterdam: Jan Blaeu, [1662]. Copper-engraved map, with original colour. Latin text on verso. Skillful marginal repair to center fold. Sheet size: 19 1/2 x 24 inches.

An aesthetic chord of triumph and the culmination of Dutch cartography.

This is the new world map prepared by Blaeu for the eleven volume Atlas Maior of 1662. Unlike its predecessor with its marginal city views and native peoples, this is a double hemispheric map with the classical gods that personify each planet and Apollo, the Sun. Each planetary deity is portrayed with his astrological attributes: Mercury with flying cap and caduceus; Venus with cupid at her side; Mars armed for battle; Jupiter with thunderbolts; and Saturn brooding and holding a flag of a six pointed star (a symbol in Saturn worship). Just below to the left and right are portraits of Claudius Ptolemy and Amerigo Vespucci. At the base are the four allegorical personifications of the seasons, each on a chariot. All of which place Earth in a larger astrological and temporal context, and make the map an exaltation of the Western European achievements. This was the key to Blaeu's Great Atlas: the culminating work of 100 years of Dutch cartography and 300 years of European seafaring.
It is surely one of the most beautiful world maps ever made.

Shirley, The Mapping of the World, 428; van der Krogt, Atlantes 0001:2B.

#20834$28,000.00
 
 
CORONELLI, Vincenzo Maria (1650-1718) and Jean-Nicolas de TRALAGE (c.1540-1620)

[World] Le Globe Terrestre Representé En Deux Plans-Hemispheres Et En Diverses Autres Figures

Paris: Jean-Baptiste Nolin, [after 1690]. Copper-engraved map, with original outline colour. Sheet size: 18 7/8 x 24 5/8 inches.

A very beautiful and finely engraved world map, principally devised by one of the period's greatest cartographers

This very fine map is the result of the synergy of the talents of Coronelli and his French colleague Tralage, popularly known as the Sieur de Tillemont. It principally depicts the world in a bi-hemispheric projection, and largely follows the geography represented on Coronelli's celebrated globe of 1688. California is shown to be an island, and in the enigmatic void that lies to the northwest is the 'Strait of Anian' that supposedly forms the western terminus of a presumed Northwest Passage. Beyond the strait, just to the northeast of Japan is the mysterious "Terre de Jessu," that supposedly represents Hokkaido. Much further south, the loosely-defined area that is now known as New Guinea is labelled as the "Terre de Quir," noting on the map that it was discovered in 1606 by the Spanish explorer Ferdinand de Quir. The only major addition here to Coronelli's established geography is the appearance of the Solomon Islands.

Surrounding these principal hemispheres are eight diverse hemispheric projections of the world, evincing a playful fascination with mathematics and perspective that anticipated the Enlightenment of the next century. Adorning the two upper corners of the map are a pair of hemispheres capturing the world from an oblique perspective, one centered on Paris, and the other from its diametrically opposite position in the antipodes. Also, in the upper portion of the map, is a pair of hemispheres capturing the world in an ovoid projection, and resting in the spaces in between the two main hemispheres are a pair of projections depicting the world from a perspective centered at the poles. In the lower left corner, the entire world is captured on a projection centered at the North Pole. Most strikingly, in the lower right corner the world is captured in a cordiform, or heart-shaped projection, which since it was first devised during the Renaissance was considered an iconological symbol of various humanist values.

Vincenzo Maria Coronelli, a Venetian scholar and Minorite Friar, became one of the most celebrated map and globe makers of his era. Throughout his industrious life he produced more than one-hundred terrestrial and celestial globes, several hundred maps, and a wealth of cartographic publications. In 1683, he completed the Marly Globes for Louis XIV, the largest and most magnificent globes ever made. In 1684 he founded the Academia Cosmografica degli Argonauti, the first geographical society, and was appointed Cosmographer of the Republic of Venice. The present map is the result of the lucrative partnership Coronelli formed in the late 1680s with the prominent Paris cartographer Jean-Baptiste Nolin, who printed editions of Coronelli's maps that flourished on the French market. Coronelli published two atlases, the Atlante Veneto (Venice, 1691) and the Isolario (1696-98), and compiled the first encyclopedia to be arranged alphabetically.

This map was first printed in 1690, and the present map is in the second state, as indicated by its dedication which honors Louis Philippeaux de Ponchartrain, the French minister of Finance.

Shirley, The Mapping of the World, 546

#19700$8,500.00
 
 
DE L'ISLE, Guillaume (1675-1726)

[World] Mappe-Monde Drésse sur les Observations de Mrs. de l'Academie Royal des Sciences et quelques autres sur les memoires les pus recens

Paris: Chez l'Auteur Rue des Canettes pres de St. Sulpice, 1700. Copper-engraved map, hand-coloured in outline. Good condition, cut to just within the plate mark, with expert repairs to margins and central fold. Sheet size: 17 1/8 x 26 1/8 inches.

The rare first state of the celebrated world map by De l'Isle"one of the foremost cartographer's of the age" (Shirley)

This highly important map proved to be one of the most influential world maps of its time, and is present here in the rare first state. De L'Isle was a much esteemed figure who after being tutored by the great Jean-Dominique Cassini, became the geographer to the French Academy of Sciences in 1702, and then 'Premier Géographe' to Louis XV in 1718. Rodney Shirley notes that "De L'Isle's work is distinguished by its scientific basis, the minute care taken in all departments, constant revision, and personal integrity".

In this map of the world, De l'Isle was among the first cartographers to re-establish California true form as a peninsula, to give more or less accurate configurations of all five Great Lakes, and to show the full extent of the Mississippi. He was also one of the first to correct the attenuated form of the Mediterranean Sea. In fusing New Guinea and Australia, he followed William Dampier's presumably personal survey, but resisted the temptation to join Tasmania and New Zealand to Australia, an error soon to be popular. Curiously, the tip of South America is shown to curve sharply into the Pacific, a detail conspicuously amended in subsequent states of the map. The map also features the tracks of important circumnavigators including Magellan, Mendaña, Dampier, Van Noort, Le Maire & Schouten and the antipodean tracks of Abel Tasman.

ShirleyThe Mapping of the World: Early Printed World Maps 1472-1700, 603, plate 416; Wagner Cartography of the Pacific Northwest, 461

#19711$4,500.00
 
 
DE L'ISLE, Guillaume (1675-1726)

[World maps, hemispherical maps on two sheets] Hemisphere Oriental Dressée en 1720 pour l'usage particulier du Roy sur les Observations Astronomiques et Geographiques raportées la même année dans l'Histoire et dans les memoires del' Academie Rle. des Sciences [and] Hemisphere Occidental Dresse en 1720...

Paris: chez l'Auteur le Sieur Delisle sur le Quay de l'Horloge, 5 September 1724. Copper-engraved maps, with period outline colour. Good condition but just shaved into plate area at upper and lower margins. Sheet size: 19 3/4 x 24 1/2 inches. .

A pair of hemispherical maps of the World, by De l'Isle.

Guillaume de l'Isle (1675-1726) was the son of a cartographer and a pupil of Jean Dominique Cassini, who, among other important contributions, aligned the study of astronomy to the study of geography. Under Cassini's direction, observations were made from locations all over the world that enabled longitudinal calculations to be made with much greater accuracy. De l'Isle carried on this exacting work with remarkable dedication and integrity, constantly revising and improving his maps. These maps exemplify the characteristics which led to De l'Isle achieving his reputation as the outstanding cartographer of his age. He was very exacting about geographical information, and what wasn't known, for example the northwestern coast of North America, he left blank. He avoided to a remarkable extent common mistakes passed on from mapmaker to mapmaker, including the widely believed notion that California was an island. While precision was his primary goal, his maps are invariably elegant and attractive.

#21530$2,250.00
 
 
DESNOS, Louis-Charles (fl. 1750-1790)

Mappe-Monde Céleste Terrestre et Historique augmentée des Voyages et Découvertes du célébre Capitaine Cooke, par M. Brion de la Tour

Paris: chez le Sr. Desnos, 1786. Engraved double-hemisphere world map, set in an elaborate border incorporating the signs of the zodiac, wind points, lunar and other astronomical and astrological dials, title running across the upper margin, lower portion of the map comprising an architectural plinth with integral engraved text on tablets giving historical details of places and people, on six joined sheets. (Some abrasion of the engraved surface with no significant loss, expertly re-backed, repairing tears and creases). Sheet size: 43 x 38 3/4 inches.

An excellent example of Desnos's rare and spectacularly decorative wall-map.

Jaugeon's map was originally published in 1688, and was subsequently reissued by Alexis-Hubert Jaillot and his family in the 1730s and again in 1758, when it seems to have been available on either three or six sheets. The present example, a collaboration between Louis Brion de la Tour and Desnos, is the six-sheet version with extensive text on the tablets on the three lower sheets and with the tracks of Captain James Cook's three voyages added to the double-hemisphere world map, as well as the recently established "Etats Unis".

Despite its several editions, examples of the map are rare, as are all wall maps of this era. It is a superb example of the neo-Classical aesthetic brought by the French to mapmaking, and theater, painting and architecture, in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In cartography, the informative, symmetrical French compositions stood in marked contrast to the brightly coloured Dutch maps of the period. Where the Dutch provided mythological references in the margins of their world maps, the French displayed a succinct, encyclopedic range of cosmological, historical and geographical information neatly arranged in balanced, decorative spaces. A great deal of knowledge is transmitted. The various theories of the Solar System; the astrological system; the four types of religious systems: Paganism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam; the great philosophers from Diogenes and Heraclitus to Descartes; the great explorers from Christopher Columbus to Francis Xavier; a brief history of the world beginning with Adam and passing to Noah and the great flood, then to the Assyrians and through the ancient empires to the Spanish, but also listing the great republics from Greece to Holland. All the known countries of the world are described.

It is a world map within a neo-Classical French context of ideas, opinions and facts, but its primary appeal is in its virile, geometric simplicity, like an ancient Greek temple: everything proportional and governed by gravity and reason. The aesthetic intrigue derives from the architectural setting into which the map and texts are placed. Through subtle shading and careful detail, the columns and medallions invoke a feeling of sobriety and remembrance of the past, the way neo-classical court houses conjure a respect for Justice now. Here, with its picture of the world and memorials to the great philosophers, the great explorers and the great religions laid out in a handsome, balanced way, the mapmakers have suggested that what the world really is has to do with the past and future achievements of a truly civilized mankind.

Cf. Bibliotheque Nationale Ge.DD.5168; cf. Shirley 538 (1688 3-sheet version); Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Portraits of the World, an exhibition of world maps from the period of the great discoveries 1981, number 57.

#21567$17,500.00
 
 
HOMANN HEIRS

[The World] Planiglobii Terrestris/Mappe-Monde

Nuremberg: Homann Heirs, 1746. Copper engraving with faint outline colour. Printed on laid paper. In excellent condition, with the exception of some minor repairs along the cener fold. Image size: 17 ¾ x 20 ¾ inches. Plate mark: 18 ¾ x 21 7/8 inches. Sheet size: 20 ¼ x 24 inches.

A stunning double hemisphere map, depicting an inaccurate mapping of North America and incomplete views of Australia and New Zealand.

During the seventeenth century map production was dominated by the large Dutch map publishers, just as international trade was dominated by Dutch merchants. By the end of the 17th century, the Dutch had had to make room for others in the world at sea and in the world of mapmaking. Founded in Nuremberg by Johan Baptist Homann in 1702, the Homann firm became the pre-eminent German map publisher for over a century. Homann published his first major atlas in 1707 and was soon after appointed Geographer to the Emperor. After Homann's death in 1724, the firm was continued by his son until 1730. The business was then bequeathed to his heirs with the stipulation that it conduct business under the name of Homann Heirs. The Homann family continued to produce maps until the beginning of the nineteenth century, and remained one of the most important German publishers on the Continent. They published the Neuer Atlas in 1714, the Grosser Atlas in 1737 and the Atlas Maior in 1780. In addition, they issued an atlas of German town plans, numerous school atlases, and an atlas of 20 maps of Silesia. Their excellent work had a lasting impact on European mapmaking during the eighteenth century, and many of the finest and most accurate maps of the period were produced by the Homanns.

Compiled by J. M. Haas, a professor of mathematics at Wittenburg, this important map is one of the finest double hemispheres produced by the Homanns. The world is divided into two large hemispheres, which occupy the center of the map. They are surrounded by four smaller globes showing various views of the earth from the north and south pole. In addition there are two small diagrams depicting the axis of the earth in relation to the sun. Although California is no longer depicted as an island, the great northwest is still left blank above California, and the Hudson Bay is still open ended in the northwest corner. America's fanciful North West coast is based on the early Russian explorations in that area and includes inaccurate views of the poles. Both Australia and New Zealand are incomplete, and Yedo is shown as part of mainland Asia north of Japan. The map is ornamented with two highly decorative cartouches with titles in Latin and French.

Moreland & Bannister, Antique Maps, online edition

#8182$3,000.00
 
 
HOMANN, Johann Baptist (1663-1724)

[The World] Planiglobii Terrestris cum utroq Hemisphaerio Caelesti Generalis Repraesentatio

Nuremberg: Homann, circa 1716. Copper-engraved map, with original outline colour, printed on laid paper, in excellent condition. Sheet size: 20 15/16 x 24 1/8 inches.

This beautiful double hemisphere map of the world is considered one of Homann's most splendid maps.

One of the most celebrated cartographers of his day, Johann Baptist Homann established the most successful German publishing house of the eighteenth century. His prolific business, which was inherited by his family after his death, dominated Germany's map market for over a century, and produced some of the finest maps and atlases of the age. He established himself in Nuremberg, and by 1715 was appointed Geographer to the Emperor.

This is a stunning double hemisphere, which literally swirls with activity. The world is shown in two hemisphere with a double hemisphere representation of the celestial world as construed in Classical astronomy above and below. Outside of these circles are many unusual things. At top is a representation of the heavens with the stars, Sun and Moon, angels and the disembodied heads that provide the winds on Earth. At bottom are representations of unusual phenomena: a volcano erupting, an earthquake, waterspouts, a whirlpool, and a rainbow.

The world map itself, which is derived, according to the title, from Dutch and French maps, includes the trade winds and the routes of several important explorations: Magellan's, Tasman's, and William Dampier's, among others. Recent discoveries in Australia and New Zealand are indicated. In North America, California is an island and the amorphous "Terra Esonis" extends to the west from where Vancouver would eventually be toward Japan. This appears to be the second edition of this map which Homann republished a number of times with an altered title and dedication.This fascinating impression includes a colour key at the bottom of the map to the colours in the map that denote the dominant religions in various regions around the world.

#4128$2,200.00
 
 
MANNERT, Conrad von (1756-1834)

[World] Die Erde in Zwey Halbkugeln

Nuremberg: Christoph Fembo, 1839. Copper-engraved map, with original outline colour. Sheet size: 17 1/3 x 23 1/2 inches.

A very attractive and finely colored twin-hemisphere map of the world

This very finely engraved map portrays the world on a bi-hemispheric projection. It evinces the great cartographic tradItion of Nuremberg, where it was devised by Professor Conrad Mannert. It depicts the globe during the height of European imperial expansion. Various possessions of the colonial hegemons are labelled, especially with regards to the British domains in the Americas. Geographically, the world has a form quite familiar to the modern eye, save the curious exception of the Canadian Arctic, which is largely shown to be an enigma.

#19790$1,000.00
 
 
MOLL, Herman (1654-1732)

[World] A New & Correct Map of the Whole World

London: H. Moll, T. & J. Bowles, P. Overton & J. King, [dated 1709, but circa 1730]. Copper-engraved map, with original outline colour, in excellent condition. Sheet size: 24 7/8 x 39 1/2 inches.

A magnificent and monumental World map, showing the globe in the early days of the Age of Enlightenment and European Imperialism

This fascinating global perspective, featured in double-hemispheres, depicts the latest state of knowledge of the world in the first quarter of the eighteenth-century. The delineation of Europe, South America, and southern Asia is quite sophisticated, while the depiction of regions further beyond suggests only fleeting exploration or outright speculation. Most of the Arctic is labelled "Parts Unknown," and the American West is largely conjectural, featuring California as an island, the most beloved of cartographic misconceptions. Lands depicted to the east of the Spice Islands are scarcely contemplated, "Iesso," or Hokkaido, is shown to be part of Siberia, and eastern Australia is left as a complete enigma, decades before the voyages of James Cook. This map was intended to satiate the intense English interest in maritime exploration and commerce. The oceans within the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn feature highly detailed hydrological information, most notably the direction of the ocean currents, that Moll gleaned from his esteemed contemporary Sir Edmond Halley. Evincing the scientific curiosity of the Enlightenment, each corner of the map features very detailed and elegant astronomical diagrams, including; the planetary systems according to both Ptolemy (geo-centric) and Copernicus (helio-centric), the appearance of the Sun according to the Jesuit intellectual Athanasius Kircher; and the Appearance of the Moon according to Jean-Dominique Cassini. The magnificent title cartouche, dedicated to George I, features classical sea gods, prefiguring the power of the Royal Navy that would allow the British to build a global empire later in the century.

The present map was part of Herman Moll's magnificent folio work, a New and Compleat Atlas. Moll was the most important cartographer working in London during his era, a career that spanned over fifty years. His origins have been a source of great scholarly debate; however, the prevailing opinion suggests that he hailed from the Hanseatic port city of Bremen, Germany. Joining a number of his countrymen, he fled the turmoil of the Scanian Wars for London, and in 1678 is first recorded as working there as an engraver for Moses Pitt on the production of the English Atlas. It was not long before Moll found himself as a charter member of London's most interesting social circle, which congregated at Jonathan's Coffee House at Number 20 Exchange Alley, Cornhill. It was at this establishment that speculators met to trade equities (most notoriously South Sea Company shares). Moll's coffeehouse circle included the scientist Robert Hooke, the archaeologist William Stuckley, the authors Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe, and the intellectually-gifted pirates William Dampier, Woodes Rogers and William Hacke. From these friends, Moll gained a great deal of privileged information that was later conveyed in his cartographic works, some appearing in the works of these same figures. Moll was highly astute, both politically and commercially, and he was consistently able to craft maps and atlases that appealed to the particular fancy of wealthy individual patrons, as well as the popular trends of the day. In many cases, his works are amongst the very finest maps of their subjects ever created with toponymy in the English language.

Shirley, Maps in the Atlases of the British Library I, T.Moll-4b, 1; Cf. Reinhartz, The Cartographer and the Literati: Herman Moll and his Intellectual Circle

#17934$9,500.00
 
 
MOLL, Herman (1654-1732)

[World] A New and Correct Map of the World, Laid Down According to the Newest Discoveries, and From the Most Exact Observations

London: H. Moll, T. & J. Bowles, P. Overton & J. King , [dated 1719, but circa 1730]. Copper-engraved map, on four joined sheets, with original outline colour, in excellent condition. Sheet size: 29 x 48 7/8 inches.

A fine copy of Herman Moll's monumental and highly engaging world map, charted on Mercator's Projection

This fascinating global perspective depicts the latest state of knowledge of the world in the first quarter of the eighteenth-century. The delineation of Europe, South America, and southern Asia is quite sophisticated, while the depiction of regions further beyond suggests only fleeting exploration or outright speculation. The map features the sailing tracks of various explorers including Henry Hudson, Thomas James, Willem Barents and the circumnavigation of Woodes Rogers. Most of the Arctic is labelled "Parts Unknown," and the American West is largely conjectural, featuring California as an island, the most beloved of cartographic misconceptions. Lands as depicted to the east of the Spice Islands are scarcely contemplated, "Iesso," or Hokkaido, is shown to be part of Siberia, and eastern Australia is left as a complete enigma, decades before the voyages of James Cook. This map was intended to satiate the intense English interest in maritime exploration and commerce. The oceans within the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn feature highly detailed hydrological information, most notably the direction of ocean currents, gleaned from Moll's esteemed contemporary Sir Edmond Halley. The inset to the upper left of the map features a diminutive world map depicting numerous lines of the degrees of compass variation. These calculations are, in part, based on measurements taken by Woodes Rogers during his transit across the Pacific, his individual readings being noted on the general map. An elegant circular inset in the lower left of the map depicts the Arctic regions as seen from directly above the Pole. This magnificent composition is further accentuated by the large title cartouche, which features personifications of the Old and New Worlds, enlivened by the most virtuous engraving.

The present map was part of Herman Moll's magnificent folio work, a New and Compleat Atlas. Moll was the most important cartographer working in London during his era, a career that spanned over fifty years. His origins have been a source of great scholarly debate; however, the prevailing opinion suggests that he hailed from the Hanseatic port city of Bremen, Germany. Joining a number of his countrymen, he fled the turmoil of the Scanian Wars for London, and in 1678 is first recorded as working there as an engraver for Moses Pitt on the production of the English Atlas. It was not long before Moll found himself as a charter member of London's most interesting social circle, which congregated at Jonathan's Coffee House at Number 20 Exchange Alley, Cornhill. It was at this establishment that speculators met to trade equities (most notoriously South Sea Company shares). Moll's coffeehouse circle included the scientist Robert Hooke, the archaeologist William Stuckley, the authors Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe, and the intellectually-gifted pirates William Dampier, Woodes Rogers and William Hacke. From these friends, Moll gained a great deal of privileged information that was later conveyed in his cartographic works, some appearing in the works of these same figures. Moll was highly astute, both politically and commercially, and he was consistently able to craft maps and atlases that appealed to the particular fancy of wealthy individual patrons, as well as the popular trends of the day. In many cases, his works are amongst the very finest maps of their subjects ever created with toponymy in the English language.

Shirley, Maps in the Atlases of the British Library I, T.Moll-4b, 2; Cf. Reinhartz, The Cartographer and the Literati: Herman Moll and his Intellectual Circle

#17937$15,000.00
 
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