• Title : Magnae Tartariae Magni Mogolis Imperii, Japoniae et Chinae...F de Wit
• Ref #:  17030
• Size: 25in x 22 1/2in (635mm x 570mm)
• Date : 1680
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This large, handsome original hand coloured copper plate engraved antique map of Tartary including China, Japan, Central Asia, parts of the Mogul Empire, Persia and Siberia - was published by Fredrick De Wit in 1680.
The map is finely engraved with detail, with fine original colour on sturdy, strong paper.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Yellow, orange
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 25in x 22 1/2in (635mm x 570mm)
Plate size: - 22in x 17 1/2in (560mm x 445mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Light age toning
Plate area: - Light age toning
Verso: - Light age toning

Background:
Although Arabia, Persia, the Silk road to China and those parts of Northern India conquered by Alexander the Great were known to the classical world, it was not until the year AD 1375 that a map giving some idea of the real shape and size of Asia was compiled. This was the famous Catalan Map, based on reports of Franciscan missionaries and the writings of Marco Polo. A century or so later in the first Ptolemaic Atlases, there were altogether twelve maps of Asia which, of course, revealed no more or less than Ptolemy's view of the Ancient world, but in the expanded Waldseemuller editions of 1513 and 1532 there were modern regional maps including much information from Marco Polo's travels.
Later 16th century maps continue to show many of the distorted outlines copied from Ptolemy although by this time India, Ceylon and the Indies were gaining more recognizable shape. Munster was again the first publisher to print a separate map of Asia and later Ortelius issued the first separately printed map of China in 1584 and Japan in 1595. In the next century highly decorative maps were published by Van Den Keere in 1614, Speed 1627, Blaeu 1630, De Wit 1660, Visscher 1680 and others too numerous to list. (Ref: Tooley, M&B)

• Title : Tabula Tertia Asiae complectitur Colchidem, Iberiam, Alberiam & Armeniam maiorem
• Date : 1541
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
• Ref:  92814
• Size: 20 1/2in x 15in (520mm x 380mm)

Description:
This beautifully hand coloured original antique Ptolemaic map by Laurent Fries of the Caucasus region of central Asia - straddling the Black & Caspian Seas (what is today part of the Russian Federation and includes the countries of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, north-western Iran & north-eastern Turkey) - was published by in the 1541 Vienna edition of Ptolemy's Geographia

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Yellow, green, red, blue.
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 20 1/2in x 15in (520mm x 380mm)
Plate size: - 20 1/2in x 15in (520mm x 380mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None

Background: 
Claude Ptolemy - a Greek mathematician, astronomer and geographer, living in Alexandria, assembled and codified his predecessors' cartographic theories including those of Strabo & Marinus of Tyre (c. AD 120) to whom he was especially indebted. In about AD 150 he published his Geographia, a work in 8 volumes, supposedly illustrated with a world map, 26 regional maps and a profusion of smaller maps. Although the text of the Geographia survived, no maps older than about the twelfth century have come down to us and, in consequence, we have no means of knowing whether the 'Ptolemy' maps on which we set so much store were, in fact, drawn by him or were the interpretations of later map makers using his text as a basis.

In Europe the initial awakening of interest in geography arose from the revival of knowledge of Ptolemy's Geographia soon after the year 1400. Greek manuscript copies made in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries were brought by scholars to Italy from Constantinople and were subsequently translated into Latin and widely studied. This work coincided with, and was much influenced by, the development of printing techniques, particularly, of course, by the invention of movable-type printing by Gutenberg about 1450, which made possible for the first time the production of printed books in quantity. Apart from this factor, other more far-reaching influences were compelling the peoples of Western Europe to look beyond the horizon they had known for so many centuries. With the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 the Turks effectively closed Europe's trade routes to the East and shut off access to traditional sources of luxuries and precious metals from Asia and, above all, denied the supply of the spices which had become so important in the lives of ordinary people. Other factors often based on long-believed myths and legends added to the urge to break out into the unknown world.
The interpretation of Ptolemy's text began mainly with the Italians Angelus, Beroaldus & Vadius in 1477 and was re-interpreted and re-issued by many over the next century by the likes Waldseemuller 1513, Gastaldi 1548, Mercator 1578 & Magini 1596. (Ref: Tooley; M&B; Dover)

• Title : Carte du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France, & des Decouvertes qui y ont ete Faites, Dressee sur les observations les plus Nouvelles, & sur divers Memoires tant Manuscrits qu' imprimez
• Ref #:  17044
• Size: 23 1/4in x 19in (590mm x 480mm)
• Date : 1719
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This large original beautifully hand coloured copper plate engraved antique & important early map of The Great Lakes, Canada & the Upper Mid-West - with descriptive French text to the right of the map - was published by Henri Abraham Chatelain in 1719, in his famous Atlas Historique.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 23 1/4in x 19in (590mm x 480mm)
Plate size: - 20 1/2in x 16 1/2in (525mm x 415mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None

Background:
Nice example of Chatelain's edition of De L'Isle's seminal map of Canada, the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest, first issued in 1703.
Chatelain's map of Canada & the Great Lakes was the first printed map to locate Detroit, first issued only 2 years after the founding of the Village by Cadillac. De L'Isle studied at the French Maritime Ministry from 1700 to 1703, during which time he took extensive notes on the work of the Jesuit Missionaries, including Franquelin, Jolliet and others. Karpinksi note that the fruits of De L'Isle's substantial efforts are born out by the great improvements in the mapping of the 5 Great Lakes and other parts of the map.
The map is one of the most important maps of Canada printed during its time, and was included in Chatelain's Atlas Historique.  Numerous trading posts and missions in New France and the major towns of the adjacent British colonies are shown. The area around Hudson's Bay is inhabited by native tribes referred to as the "Christinaux or Kilistinons," while Labrador is home to the "Eskimaux."
The map features a number of notes specifically referring to the names of explorers and the dates in which they discovered certain places, such as the reference to 'Nouveau Danemarc', discovered by the Danish explorer Jan Munk in 1619. The depiction of the upper Mississippi and Ohio basins is also quite detailed, noting the French fort of 'St. Louis' or 'Crevecouer' near the present-day site of Peoria, Illinois. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the map is its portrayal of the "Riviere Longue," one of the most sensational and enduring cartographic misconceptions ever devised. This mythical river was reported to flow from the 'Pays des Gnacsitares' in the far west, promising the best route through the interior of the continent, supposedly placing one within close reach of the Pacific Ocean. It is a product of the imagination of the Baron Lahontan, a French adventurer, whose best-selling travel narrative Nouveaux voyages dans l'Amérique septentrionale (1703) convinced many of the world's greatest intellects of the existence of this mythical waterway. The text, 'Remarque Historique' that fills the northwestern part of the map describes the history of New France from the days of Jacques Cartier to contemporary times.