• Title : Engelland; Von Hyspania
• Date : 1493
• Size: 16 1/2in x 11in (420mm x 280mm)
• Ref #:  50653
• Condition: (B) Good Condition

Description: 
This beautifully hand coloured original antique decorative incunable* folio leaf with views a representation of England & Spain on both sides by Hartmann Schedel was published the famous Liber chronicarum or Nuremberg Chronicle, German edition 1493, the year that Columbus returned to Europe after discovering America. Page number CCLXXXIIII. One of only two views from Liber chronicarum related to the British Isles.
The woodblock cutter was Michael Wolgemut, the well-known teacher of Albrecht Dürer, and his stepson Wilhelm Pleydenwurff. Wohlgemut was Albrecht Dürer's tutor between 1486-90. Since the young Dürer was active in Wohlgemut's printer shop during the time the woodblock for the Nuremberg Chronicle have produced, he may also have collaborated, since some of the cuts bear a remarkably close resemblance to his Apocalypse illustrations.
*An incunable, or sometimes incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside (such as the Almanach cracoviense ad annum 1474) that was printed—not handwritten—before the year 1501 in Europe. "Incunable" is the anglicised singular form of "incunabula", Latin for "swaddling clothes" or "cradle",which can refer to "the earliest stages or first traces in the development of anything." A former term for "incunable" is "fifteener", referring to the 15th century.

Background: The Nuremberg Chronicle is an illustrated biblical paraphrase and world history that follows the story of human history related in the Bible; it includes the histories of a number of important Western cities. Written in Latin by Hartmann Schedel, with a version in German, translation by Georg Alt, it appeared in 1493. It is one of the best-documented early printed books—an incunabulum—and one of the first to successfully integrate illustrations and text.
Latin scholars refer to it as Liber Chronicarum (Book of Chronicles) as this phrase appears in the index introduction of the Latin edition. English-speakers have long referred to it as the Nuremberg Chronicle after the city in which it was published. German-speakers refer to it as Die Schedelsche Weltchronik (Schedel's World History) in honour of its author.
Two Nuremberg merchants, Sebald Schreyer (1446–1503) and his son-in-law, Sebastian Kammermeister (1446–1520), commissioned the Latin version of the chronicle. They also commissioned George Alt (1450–1510), a scribe at the Nuremberg treasury, to translate the work into German. Both Latin and German editions were printed by Anton Koberger, in Nuremberg. The contracts were recorded by scribes, bound into volumes, and deposited in the Nuremberg City Archives. The first contract, from December, 1491, established the relationship between the illustrators and the patrons. Wolgemut and Pleydenwurff, the painters, were to provide the layout of the chronicle, to oversee the production of the woodcuts, and to guard the designs against piracy. The patrons agreed to advance 1000 gulden for paper, printing costs, and the distribution and sale of the book. A second contract, between the patrons and the printer, was executed in March, 1492. It stipulated conditions for acquiring the paper and managing the printing. The blocks and the archetype were to be returned to the patrons once the printing was completed.
The author of the text, Hartmann Schedel, was a medical doctor, humanist and book collector. He earned a doctorate in medicine in Padua in 1466, then settled in Nuremberg to practice medicine and collect books. According to an inventory done in 1498, Schedel's personal library contained 370 manuscripts and 670 printed books. The author used passages from the classical and medieval works in this collection to compose the text of Chronicle. He borrowed most frequently from another humanist chronicle, Supplementum Chronicarum, by Jacob Philip Foresti of Bergamo. It has been estimated that about 90% of the text is pieced together from works on humanities, science, philosophy, and theology, while about 10% of the chronicle is Schedel's original composition.
Nuremberg was one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire in the 1490s, with a population of between 45,000 and 50,000. Thirty-five patrician families comprised the City Council. The Council controlled all aspects of printing and craft activities, including the size of each profession and the quality, quantity and type of goods produced. Although dominated by a conservative aristocracy, Nuremberg was a center of northern humanism. Anton Koberger, printer of the Nuremberg Chronicle, printed the first humanist book in Nuremberg in 1472. Sebald Shreyer, one of the patrons of the chronicle, commissioned paintings from classical mythology for the grand salon of his house. Hartmann Schedel, author of the chronicle, was an avid collector of both Italian Renaissance and German humanist works. Hieronymus Münzer, who assisted Schedel in writing the chronicle's chapter on geography, was among this group, as were Albrecht Dürer and Johann and Willibald Pirckheimer.
The Chronicle was first published in Latin on 12 July 1493 in the city of Nuremberg. This was quickly followed by a German translation on 23 December 1493. An estimated 1400 to 1500 Latin and 700 to 1000 German copies were published. A document from 1509 records that 539 Latin versions and 60 German versions had not been sold. Approximately 400 Latin and 300 German copies survived into the twenty-first century. The larger illustrations were also sold separately as prints, often hand-coloured in watercolour. Many copies of the book are also coloured, with varying degrees of skill; there were specialist shops for this. The colouring on some examples has been added much later, and some copies have been broken up for sale as decorative prints.
The publisher and printer was Anton Koberger, the godfather of Albrecht Dürer, who in the year of Dürer's birth in 1471 ceased goldsmithing to become a printer and publisher. He quickly became the most successful publisher in Germany, eventually owning 24 printing presses and having many offices in Germany and abroad, from Lyon to Buda. (Ref Tooley M&B)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - White
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Red, green, blue, brown
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 16 1/2in x 11in (420mm x 280mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Soiling, restoration of left margin, not affecting the imag
Plate area: - Several small worm holes, soiling
Verso: - Soiling

• Title : Anglie Provincia
• Date : 1493
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
• Ref:  35012
• Size: 23 1/2in x 19 1/2in (600mm x 495mm) 

Description: 
This magnificent fine wood block engraved original antique view of Anglia - England - which is believed to be an early representation of London - the earliest known published view of an English Town or City - was published in one of the earliest publications the 1493 edition of Liber Chronicarum or Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel. The Nuremberg Chronicles were published only 40 years after first moveable type publication which revolutionised the modern world.

On the verso is a depiction of part of the family tree of the Kings of Israel: included are Kings Solomon, David and the Queen of Saba (Sheba).
The woodblock engravers were Michael Wolgemut, the well-known teacher of Albrecht Dürer, and his stepson Wilhelm Pleydenwurff. Wohlgemut was Albrecht Dürer's tutor between 1486-90 and recent scholarship has shown, Albrecht Dürer may also have collaborated, since some of the cuts bear a remarkably close resemblance to the Apocalypse illustrations.
The printing was carried out under the supervision of the great scholar-printer Anton Koberger, whose printing were famous throughout Europe.

The following is a translation of the Latin Text below the Wood-Cut.

Anglie Provincia
The island of England was originally called Albion after certain white mountains which were seen by those steering towards it; but was then named Britain perpetuating the name of a fierce son (Brutus) of Silvius, the last king of the Latins, who overcame the giants inhabiting the island. It was called 'Greater' (Great) Britain to distinguish it from the lesser Britain (Brittany) of France which adjoins it. Its present-day name of England is taken from a certain 'Anglus' who was a powerful king. England forms a triangle between North and West and is separated from the continent at all points, beginning near Germany in the North and extending alongside France and Spain towards the West. Solinus regarded the French shore as the limit of this world and the island of Britain almost as belonging to another. And Virgil thought of it as separated from the rest of the globe. But Brutus having decided to settle in England, immediately founded on the banks of the River Thames a city so well fortified that it recalled in all its forces the memory of ancient Troy. This Brutus is said to have had three sons; Locrinus, Albanetus and Camber and they divided the island amonst themselves. To Locrinus, the first horn, fell all of the centre of the kingdom, which later became known as Lochria after him, and his city of London is still greatly celebrated for its merchants and traders. And many say that the Kings and Princes of England and the Parliament of the people meet to this day with the merchants there. To the second son Albanetus fell another part of the island and this was called 'Albania', but nowadays Scocia (Scotland). This Scotland occupies the higher part of the island, which lies towards the North winds and is separated from England by some smallish rivers and a certain mountain range. The third son inherited Cambria, now called Thule, the districts to the North and West which were the last to be explored by the Romans and where, during the summer solstice, the sun passes only from the star of Cancer and there is thus no night; while during the winter there is no day. The greater part of the Island is fertile. It is surrounded by many other islands of some dimensions, the largest of them Hibemia (Ireland) which is divided from Britain by a narrow channel, and some smaller ones called the Orchades (Orkneys). The blessed Pope Gregory, second of this name, sent to Britain the monks Augustine of Miletus and John with other men of outstanding character and they first converted the English. Since then many of their kings have shone forth for their miracles. The dimensions of Britain are given by Pythies and Ysidore as 38,075 [square] miles, and in it are many fine rivers, besides large and varied supplies of metals. Its history is to be found best described in Bede. (Ref: Shirley; M&B; Tooley)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - White
Age of map color: - 
Colors used: - 
General color appearance: - 
Paper size: - 18in x 12in (460mm x 305mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

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

• Title : Tabula noua Helvetiae
• Ref #:  17008
• Size: 18 1/2in x 15in (475mm x 380mm)
• Date : 1541
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This rare, very early original hand coloured wood-block engraved antique Ptolemaic map of Switzerland by Laurent Fries was published by Trechsel, Gaspar; Vienne, Dauphine in the 1541 Lyon edition of Ptolemys Geographia, Claudii Ptolemaei Alexandrini Geographicae Enarrationis, Libri Octo

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: - 18 1/2in x 15in (475mm x 380mm)
Plate size: - 18 1/2in x 15in (475mm x 380mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Small repair to top margin in title
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None

Background:
The first printed map of Switzerland was published in Martin Waldseemuller's edition of Ptolemy in Strasbourg in 1513, but the manuscript map by Konrad Turst (1497) drawn to scale was a splendid first achievement for its time. Also the research of Vadianus at St Gallen University produced notable work, and along with the Germanic influence in Basle, which became part of the Swiss Confederation in 1501, and the highly developed wood engraving skills there, were important factors in European map publishing.
The almost endless editions of Sebastian Munster's Cosmographia were published in Basle from 1540 for nearly a century and Zurich can claim to have published the first national atlas produced anywhere -that of Johann Stumpf in 1548-52.
By comparison with her larger neighbours, Germany and Italy, Switzerland is considered not to have made a major contribution to Cartographic history. But over the years this has been contradicted, especially starting in the sixteenth century. In the second half of the sixteenth century many maps of the Swiss Cantons, in manuscript or woodcuts appeared, but the mountainous nature of the country produced its own mapping problems and imposed a need for large-scale surveys as well as practical and effective methods of showing land surfaces in relief. Early in the seventeenth century Hans Gyger perfected new ways of doing this but although he published a wide range of very large-scale maps of the cantons and of Switzerland as a whole his techniques did not receive the credit they deserved. On the other hand, his countrymen followed his example of compiling large-scale maps for which they have always been noted for up until the present day. (Ref: Koeman; M&B)

• Title : Italia XIX Nova Tabula
• Date : 1545
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
• Ref:  50659
• Size: 17in x 13in (430mm x 330mm)

Description: 

This fine beautifully hand coloured original antique map of contemporary Italy - with Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Coastal Dalmatia and southern Grance - in the mid 16th century was published by Sebastian Munster in the 1545 edition of Geographia

Geographia contained a total of 54 woodcut maps, first published in 1540 and re-issued until 1552. Munsters contemporary maps were a result of data sent to him by German and European scholars of descriptions of the villages, towns trades etc in their regions. The response was so great that over a 12 year period Munster was able to compile the first of many up-to-date, if not accurate, maps in both his two major publications, Geographia and Cosmographia. The result was one of the first comprehensive cartographical publications of regions of Europe and other parts of the world. Also as was the case with many cartographical publications of the time ancient maps interpreted from the text of the scholar Ptolemy were included along side the \"modern\" ones.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 17in x 13in (430mm x 330mm)
Plate size: - 17in x 13in (430mm x 330mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

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

Background: 
Since classical times the countries bordering the enclosed waters of the Mediterranean had been well versed in the use of maps and sea charts and in Italy, more than anywhere else, the traditional knowledge was kept alive during the many hundreds of years following the collapse of the Roman Empire. By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the seamen of Venice, Genoa and Amalfi traded to far countries, from the Black Sea ports and the coasts of Palestine and Egypt in the East to Flanders and the southern coasts of England and Ireland in the West, their voyages guided by portulan charts and the use of the newly invented compass. For a time Italian supremacy in cartography passed to Aragon and the Catalan map makers based on Majorca, but by the year 1400 the power and wealth of the city states of Venice, Genoa, Florence and Milan surpassed any in Europe. Florence, especially, under the rule of the Medici family, became not only a great trading and financial centre but also the focal point of the rediscovery of the arts and learning of the ancient world. In this milieu a number of manuscript world maps were produced, of which one by Fra Mauro (c. 1459) is the most notable, but the event of the greatest importance in the history of cartography occurred in the year 1400 when a Florentine, Palla Strozzi, brought from Constantinople a Greek manuscript copy of Claudius Ptolemy\'s Geographia, which, 1,250 years after its compilation, came as a revelation to scholars in Western Europe. In the following fifty years or so manuscript copies, translated into Latin and other languages, became available in limited numbers but the invention of movable-type printing transformed the scene: the first copy without maps being printed in 1475 followed by many with copper-engraved maps, at Bologna in 1477, Rome 1478, 1490, 1507 and 1508, and Florence 1482.
About the year 1485 the first book of sea charts, compiled by Bartolommeo dalli Sonetti, was printed in Venice and in the first part of the sixteenth century a number of world maps were published, among them one compiled in 1506 by Giovanni Contarini, engraved by Francesco Rosselli, which was the first printed map to show the discoveries in the New World. In the following years there were many attractive and unusual maps of Islands (Isolano) by Bordone, Camocio and Porcacchi, but more important was the work of Giacomo (Jacopo) Gastaldi, a native of Piedmont who started life as an engineer in the service of the Venetian Republic before turning to cartography as a profession. His maps, produced in great variety and quantity, were beautifully drawn copperplate engravings and his style and techniques were widely copied by his contemporaries. From about 1550 to 1580 many of Gastaldi\'s maps appeared in the collections of maps known as Lafreri \'atlases\', a term applied to groups of maps by different cartographers brought together in one binding. As the contents of such collections varied considerably they were no doubt assembled at the special request of wealthy patrons and are now very rare indeed.
About this time, for a variety of historical and commercial reasons, Italy\'s position as the leading trading and financial nation rapidly declined and with it her superiority in cartography was lost to the vigorous new states in the Low Countries. That is not to say, of course, that Italian skills as map makers were lost entirely for it was not until 1620 that the first printed maps of Italy by an Italian, Giovanni Magini, appeared, and much later in the century there were fine maps by Giacomo de Rossi and Vincenzo Coronelli, the latter leading a revival of interest in cartography at the end of the century. Coronelli was also famous for the construction of magnificent large-size globes and for the foundation in Venice in 1680 of the first geographical society.
In the eighteenth century the best-known names are Antonio Zatta, Rizzi-Zannoni and Giovanni Cassini.
We ought to mention the work of Baptista Boazio who drew a series of maps in A Summarie and True Discourse of Sir Francis Drake\'s West Indian Voyage, published in 1588-89, and who is especially noted for a very fine map of Ireland printed in 1599 which was incorporated in the later editions of the Ortelius atlases. It is perhaps appropriate also to refer to two English map makers who spent many years in exile in Italy: the first, George Lily, famous for the splendid map of the British Isles issued in Rome in 1546, and the second, Robert Dudley, who exactly one hundred years later was responsible for the finest sea atlas of the day, Dell\' Arcano del Mare, published in Florence. Both of these are described in greater detail elsewhere in this handbook. (Ref: Tooley, Koeman)

• Title : Typus Orbis Universalis
• Ref #:  61146
• Size: 15 3/4in x 12 1/2in (400mm x 310mm)
• Date : 1550
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This fine wood-block engraved original antique World Map was engraved by David Kandel, initials engraved bottom left "DK" and was published in the 1550 edition of Cosmographia by Sebastian Munster.
One of the most recognizable maps of the 16th century considered the first map to identify the Pacific Ocean, as here, 'Mare Pacificum.' This is the world of the educated 16th century European, divided into Asia, Europe, India, Africa and America. The southern latitudes are inhabited by a variety of sea monsters and sailing ships.
American continent is nearly unrecognizable, only a scant 58 years after European discovery by Christopher Columbus. North America is defined as Terra Florida showing an enormous inlet extending towards the eastern seaboard in the vicinity of modern day North Carolina named Verrazano's Sea. Apparently Verrazano, coasting the Outer Banks, observed the Pamlico Sound and assumed that beyond the narrow coastal banks, an open sea gave direct access to the pacific - wishful thinking at best. Verrazano's Sea appears so dramatically on few maps, but persisted in lesser forms for nearly a century. 
South America with tentacle like protrusions in all directions, is largely amorphous, but the Rio de la Plata and the Strait of Magellan are clear. Tierra del Fuego is enormous, with no mention of greater Terra Australias, an interesting omission by Munster. 
Europe is vaguely recognizable and connected, via an arctic peninsula, to Greenland and North America. 
Asia/Pacific extends eastward far enough to reappear just north of America. Ceylon is not present, but a landmass bearing roughly the shape and position of Sumatra is identified as Tapobrana (a term more commonly associated with Ceylon). Japan appears as Zipangri. 
Unlike many other world maps of the time, Munster has left out the concept of a 'Terra Australis Incognita' altogether choosing to show ocean instead.
Africa follows the Ptolemaic model with the Nile finding its source in a mountain range and two associated lakes. 
The whole is surrounded by twelve named and prominent wind heads - one for each direction.

Background: This wood-cut engraved World map was prepared for the 1550 edition of Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia to replace the earlier World map by Sebasian Munster which had appeared in the editions of the Geographia and Cosmographia from 1540 onwards. The publisher, from 1552, was Heinrich Petri, Münster's son-in-law. 
This "new world" map is on an oval projection, similar in many respects to the previous Munster world map, but with the woodcutter's initials "DK" added, identified as those of the engraver David Kandel, in the lower left-hand corner.
The titles of the wind-heads are now in banners and the east and west winds, unlike the 1540 version, do not protrude inside the oval circumference. North America still retains its unusual shape almost bisected by water but the earlier note indicating a route to the Moluccas has been omitted...."
The map was first issued in the 1550 edition of Cosmographia, and appeared in all subsequent editions through to 1578, with the title varying according to the language of the edition. On the verso the wood block is the title and text, in Latin.

Sebastian Münster (1488-1552) was a German cartographer, cosmographer, and Hebrew scholar whose work Cosmographia (1544; "Cosmography") was the earliest German description of the world and a major work in the revival of geographic thought in 16th-century Europe. It had numerous editions in different languages including Latin, French, Italian, English, and even Czech. Altogether, about 40 editions of the Cosmographia appeared between 1544 and 1628 and was one of the most successful and popular books of the 16th century. Münster was a major influence in popular thinking in Europe for the next 200 years.
This success was due not only to the level of descriptive detail but also to the fascinating full page maps & views as well as smaller woodcuts that were included in the text. Many of the woodcuts were executed by famous engravers of the time including Hans Holbein the Younger, Urs Graf, Hans Rudolph Manuel Deutsch, and David Kandel. 
Aside from the well-known maps present in the Cosmographia, the text is thickly sprinkled with vigorous views: portraits of kings and princes, costumes and occupations, habits and customs, flora and fauna, monsters, wonders, and horrors about the known -- and unknown -- world, and was undoubtedly one of the most widely read books of its time.
Münster acquired the material for his book in three ways. Firstly he researched all available literary sources across Germany, Switzerland and other parts of Europe. Secondly he obtained original manuscript material from locals all over Europe for description of the countryside, cities, villages, towns, rivers and local history. Finally, he obtained further material first hand on his travels (primarily in south-west Germany, Switzerland, and Alsace). 

In 1588 Sebastian Petri re-released Cosomgraphia and re-issued many of Munsters maps and views in the "copperplate style". The maps in this release were more sophisticated than with earlier publications of Cosomgraphia and were based on the 1570 release of Abraham Ortelius monumental work Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. (Ref: Shirley; Tooley; M&B)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - White
Age of map color: -  
Colors used: -  
General color appearance: -  
Paper size: - 15 3/4in x 12 1/2in (400mm x 310mm)
Plate size: - 15 3/4in x 12 1/2in (400mm x 310mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (10mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - L&R margins extended, not affecting borders or image
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None

• Title : Misena Hermundurorum Urbs
• Ref #:  20222
• Size: 17in x 15in (435mm x 380mm)
• Date : 1558
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This fine wood-blocked engraved hand coloured original antique print a view of the German city of Meissen in Saxonia, Germany(with a view of the city of Dresden on the verso) was engraved in 1558 - date is engraved at the bottom of the image - byHiob Magdeburg and was published in the 1588 edition of Sebastian MunstersCosmographia published by Sebastian Petri, Basle.

Sebastian Petri re-release of Cosomgraphiain 1588 produced some fine woodcut maps in the "copperplate style". The maps in this release were more  sophisticated than with earlier publications of Cosomgraphia and were based on the 1570 release of Abraham Ortelius monumental work Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

Hiob Magdeburg (1518 - 1595) was a German theologian, educator, cartographer and humanist of the Reformation period. Magdeburg important legacy is not of a theological or educational nature, but cartographic specifically of the region of Saxony, including Meissen.

Background: For a variety of reasons town plans were comparatively latecomers in the long history of cartography. Few cities in Europe in the middle ages had more than 20,00 inhabitants and even London in the late Elizabethan period had only 100-150,000 people which in itself was probably 10 times that of any other English city. The Nuremberg Chronicle in 1493 included one of the first town views of Jerusalem, thereafter, for most of the sixteenth century, German cartographers led the way in producing town plans in a modern sense. In 1544 Sebastian Munster issued in Basle his Cosmographia containing roughly sixty-six plans and views, some in the plan form, but many in the old panorama or birds eye view. (Ref: Tooley; M&B)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Light and stable
Paper color: - White
Age of map color: - Later
Colors used: - Blue, green, red, brown
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 17in x 15in (435mm x 380mm)
Margins: - Min ½in (12mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - 9cm repair to left and right margins of image, no loss
Plate area: - 9cm repair to left and right of image, no loss
Verso: - 9cm repair to left and right of verso, no loss

• Title : Africa Lybia Morenlandt mit Allen Konigreichen so zu Unsern Zeiten darin Gefunden Werden
• Date : 1560
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
• Ref:  50660
• Size: 15in x 11 1/2in (385mm x 290mm)

Description: 
A great example of the first map of the whole continent of Africa published in the 1560 edition of Sebastian Munster'sCosmographia.
This woodblock map is instantly recognisable, first published in 1540, by its illustrations of the 'Monoculi' (a one-eyed man), an impressive sailing ship, and a large elephant in southern Africa.
In The Mapping Of Africa Richard Betz identifies 15 variant states of this map. With German text and the image of a Phoenix rising from the sun to the verso, this example most closely resembles Betz's variant 15. However, our example has only "IOPIA" present in the word Aethiopia in the centre of the continent, not corresponding to any listed in Betz, and appears therefore to be a previously unrecorded variant of this early and important map.
Sales data: There have been 9 recorded sales of this map since 1985 cumulating in a top price of $1897US achieved in 2010 for this scarce edition. (Ref AMPR)

Background: 
The first separately printed map of Africa (as with the other known continents) appeared in Munster's Geographia from 1540 onwards and the first atlas devoted to Africa only was published in 1588 in Venice by Livio Sanuto, but the finest individual map of the century was that engraved on 8 sheets by Gastaldi, published in Venice in 1564. Apart from maps in sixteenth-century atlases generally there were also magnificent marine maps of 1596 by Jan van Linschoten (engraved by van Langrens) of the southern half of the continent with highly imaginative and decorative detail in the interior. In the next century there were many attractive maps including those of Mercator/Hondius (1606), Speed (1627), Blaeu (1 630), Visscher (1636), de Wit (c. 1670), all embellished with vignettes of harbours and principal towns and bordered with elaborate and colourful figures of their inhabitants, but the interior remained uncharted with the exception of that part of the continent known as Ethiopia, the name which was applied to a wide area including present-day Abyssinia. Here the legends of Prester John lingered on and, as so often happened in other remote parts of the world, the only certain knowledge of the region was provided by Jesuit missionaries. Among these was Father Geronimo Lobo (1595-1678), whose work A Voyage to Abyssinia was used as the basis for a remarkably accurate map published by a German scholar, Hiob Ludolf in 1683. Despite the formidable problems which faced them, the French cartographers G. Delisle(c. 1700-22), J. B. B. d'Anville (1727-49) and N. Bellin (1754) greatly improved the standards of mapping of the continent, improvements which were usually, although not always, maintained by Homann, Seutter, de Ia Rochette, Bowen, Faden and many others in the later years of the century.
Sebastian Petri re-release of Cosomgraphia in 1588 produced some fine woodcut maps in the "copperplate style". The maps in this release were more sophisticated than with earlier publications of Cosomgraphia and were based on the 1570 release of Abraham Ortelius monumental work Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. (Ref: M&B;Tooley)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Light and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - 
Colors used: - 
General color appearance: - 
Paper size: - 15in x 11 1/2in (385mm x 290mm)
Plate size: - 15in x 11 1/2in (385mm x 290mm)
Margins: - 1/2in (12mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - 4 small worm holes repaired adjacent to centerfold
Verso: - None

• Title : Cypri Insulae Nova Descript 1573
• Date : 1573
• Size: 20 3/4in x 15in (525mm x 382mm)
• Ref #:  70794
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This extremely handsome and much sort after original antique map of the Island of Cyprus was published by Abraham Ortelius in 1573. There were a total of 6275 of these maps published between 1573 and 1641, with approx. 10% surviving to this day.
This actual map is a true first edition or state (1573IG39A), of 3 states, with German text & page number 39A on the verso.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 20 3/4in x 15in (525mm x 382mm)
Plate size: - 19 3/4in x 14in (500mm x 355mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

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

Background: 
A milestone in the history of the cartography of Cyprus, based on a 1570 map by Giacomo Franco. The map is embellished by sailing ships and a sea monster, bearing a map of the Greek Island of Lemnos in an inset mp at bottom right, based on the written account by Pierre Belon in 1555. Signed in the plate by the Dutch engraver Joannes van Doetecum

Cyprus is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel, north of Egypt, and southeast of Greece.
The earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this period include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia, and Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeksin two waves in the 2nd millennium BC. As a strategic location in the Middle East, it was subsequently occupied by several major powers, including the empires of the Assyrians, Egyptians and Persians, from whom the island was seized in 333 BC by Alexander the Great. Subsequent rule by Ptolemaic Egypt, the Classical and Eastern Roman Empire, Arabcaliphates for a short period, the French Lusignan dynasty and the Venetians, was followed by over three centuries of Ottoman rule between 1571 and 1878.

• Title : Monacum (Munchen). Ingostadium (Ingolstadt). Frisingensis (Freising). Nordlinga (Nordligen). Ratispona (Regensburg). Stravbinga (Straubing)
• Size:  21in x 16in (545mm x 410mm)
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
• Date : 1574
• Ref #:  40871

Description:
This original copper-plate engraved antique of 6 x maps, birds eye city views of Munchen, Ingolstadt, . Freising, Nordligen, Regensburg, Straubing, Germany was published by Georg Braun & Frans Hogenberg for the 1574 atlas of town plans Civiates Orbis Terrarum intended as a companion to Abraham Ortelius\\\'s master Atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum published in 1570.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: -
Colors used: -
General color appearance: -
Paper size: - 21in x 16in (545mm x 410mm)
Plate size: - 19in x 13 1/2in (480mm x 340mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

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

Background: 
Below is the translations to the text on the verso, of each city.

Munich is a splendid city in Bavaria, situated on the Isar. It has a favourable location and possesses a magnificent palace, in which the Bavarian princes hold court in our own day.

Ingolstadt: In the beginning Ingolstadt was not exactly a large town, almost rectangular in shape, and within an area marked by the three ancient towers that still stand today: the Glockenturm in the cemetry of the minster of Our Lady, the Striegelturm beside the gaol and the Judenturm. The old castle is also a clear indication of this. Ingolstadt was first expanded in 1312, when it grew to about double the size and took on a shape resembling that of an egg, apart from a few bulges in the southern part of the town.

Freising, the episcopal city in Bavaria, [...] is said to have been founded at the time of Roman rule, which extended from the Danube to the Alps, on a favourable site by the Moosach, which flows into the Isar close by. Beatus Rhenanus records that in the library of St Corbinian\'s he found a very beautiful book containing the four Gospels in Frankish.

Nördlingen formerly lay on the Hohe Hart hill, above the present city, where the old parish church of St Emmeran can still be seen. This town burned down in 1238 and due to the lack of water many lost their lives. Afterwards it was rebuilt in the valley beside the Eger, and ever since then the waters of the river have run through it.

Regensburg is a magnificent and ancient city in Bavaria on the banks of the Danube, at a favourably situated point where four rivers converge. For the Laber and the Naab flow into the Danube above the city and the Regen below it. [...] Emperor Arnulf expanded the city and most importantly linked it to the settlement on the opposite bank by means of a sturdy stone bridge with many arches.

Straubing is a town in Bavaria that was founded by Duke Ludwig in 1218. The Danube runs near the town and thereby lends it importance.

• Title : Die Statt Speier An
• Ref #:  22669
• Size: 16in x 13in (410mm x 330mm)
• Date : 1574
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description: 
This large finely engraved original antique print a view of the Rhineland-PalatinateCity of Speyer - dominated by the Speyer Cathedral - on the River Rhine was published by Sebastian Munster in the 1574 edition of Cosmographia.

Speyer is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located beside the River Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities. The first known names were Noviomagus and Civitas Nemetum, after the Teutonic tribe, Nemetes, settled in the area.
Around the year 500 the name Spira first appeared in written documents. Spire, Spira, and Espira are still names used for Speyer in the French, Italian, and Spanish languages.
Speyer is dominated by the Speyer Cathedral begun in 1030AD, a number of churches and the Altpörtel (old gate). In the cathedral, beneath the high altar, are the tombs of eight Holy Roman emperors and German kings.

Background: For a variety of reasons town plans were comparatively latecomers in the long history of cartography. Few cities in Europe in the middle ages had more than 20,00 inhabitants and even London in the late Elizabethan period had only 100-150,000 people which in itself was probably 10 times that of any other English city. The Nuremberg Chronicle in 1493 included one of the first town views of Jerusalem, thereafter, for most of the sixteenth century, German cartographers led the way in producing town plans in a modern sense. In 1544 Sebastian Munster issued in Basle hisCosmographia containing roughly sixty-six plans and views, some in the plan form, but many in the old panorama or birds eye view.

Sebastian Münster (1488-1552) was a German cartographer, cosmographer, and Hebrew scholar whose work Cosmographia (1544; "Cosmography") was the earliest German description of the world and a major work in the revival of geographic thought in 16th-century Europe. It had numerous editions in different languages including Latin, French, Italian, English, and even Czech. Altogether, about 40 editions of the Cosmographiaappeared between 1544 and 1628 and was one of the most successful and popular books of the 16th century. Münster was a major influence in popular thinking in Europe for the next 200 years.
This success was due not only to the level of descriptive detail but also to the fascinating full page maps & views as well as smaller woodcuts that were included in the text. Many of the woodcuts were executed by famous engravers of the time including Hans Holbein the Younger, Urs Graf, Hans Rudolph Manuel Deutsch, and David Kandel. 
Aside from the well-known maps present in the Cosmographia, the text is thickly sprinkled with vigorous views: portraits of kings and princes, costumes and occupations, habits and customs, flora and fauna, monsters, wonders, and horrors about the known -- and unknown -- world, and was undoubtedly one of the most widely read books of its time.
Münster acquired the material for his book in three ways. Firstly he researched all available literary sources across Germany, Switzerland and other parts of Europe. Secondly he obtained original manuscript material from locals all over Europe for description of the countryside, cities, villages, towns, rivers and local history. Finally, he obtained further material first hand on his travels (primarily in south-west Germany, Switzerland, and Alsace). 

In 1588 Sebastian Petri re-released Cosomgraphia and re-issued many of Munsters maps and views in the "copperplate style". The maps in this release were more sophisticated than with earlier publications ofCosomgraphia and were based on the 1570 release of Abraham Ortelius monumental work Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.(Ref: Tooley; M&B)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Light and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - 
Colors used: - 
General color appearance: - 
Paper size: - 16in x 13in (410mm x 330mm)
Plate size: - 16in x 13in (410mm x 330mm)
Margins: - 1/2in (12mm)

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

• Title : Tornacum
• Ref #:  30254
• Size: 21 1/2in x 16in (550mm x 400mm)
• Date : 1575
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This fine beautifully hand coloured original antique map a birds-eye view of the town ofTournai or Doornik, a Walloon city located 85 kilometres west-southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut in Belgium was published by Georg Braun & Frans Hogenberg for the 1575 atlas of town plans Civiates Orbis Terrarum Vol II (1572-1612) intended as a companion to Abraham Ortelius's master Atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum published in 1570.

Background: 
Bird's-eye view of the city from the south seen fortified with a Renaissance-style moat and wall with projecting bastions. The Old Town wall, dating from 1290, can be seen inside the city. The 12th-century Gothic cathedral of Notre-Dame (5) stands out in the centre , the most important and influential church building in Belgium. 
Tournai is one of Belgium's oldest cities. A formidable stronghold as early as the 4th century AD, it was the main centre of the Salian Franks until the mid-5th century. Tournai became an Episcopal See at the beginning of the 6th century and belonged then to the Count of Flanders from 1188 to France. 
In the 15th century the city flourished economically and culturally as a result of its tapestry industry (Rogier van der Weyden, among others). In the Treaties of Madrid and Cambrai (1526/29), France had to cede Tournai to Charles V and it thus became part of the Spanish Netherlands.  

Verso Text: "Tornacum or Turnacum is a city in Gallia Belgica, situated on the Schelde in the territory of the Nervii, called Tournai by its French inhabitants, but Dorneck by the Germans. Tournai has always been a large and powerful city, with an abundance of goods and commercial activities and wonderfully resourceful craftsmen, who invent new articles every day, and although some of these go out of use they constantly conceive of other new things, both useful and delightful, so that they have at all times something that provides work and a means of livelihood for the poor." 

Civitates Orbis Terrarum
The first volume of the Civitates Orbis Terrarum was published in Cologne in 1572. The sixth and the final volume appeared in 1617. 
This great city atlas, edited by Georg Braun and largely engraved by Franz Hogenberg, eventually contained 546 prospects, bird-eye views and map views of cities from all over the world. Braun (1541-1622), a cleric of Cologne, was the principal editor of the work, and was greatly assisted in his project by the close, and continued interest of Abraham Ortelius, whose Theatrum Orbis Terrarum of 1570 was, as a systematic and comprehensive collection of maps of uniform style, the first true atlas.

For a variety of reasons town plans were comparatively latecomers in the long history of cartography. Few cities in Europe in the middle ages had more than 20,00 inhabitants and even London in the late Elizabethan period had only 100-150,000 people which in itself was probably 10 times that of any other English city. The Nuremberg Chronicle in 1493 included one of the first town views of Jerusalem, thereafter, for most of the sixteenth century, German cartographers led the way in producing town plans in a modern sense. In 1544 Sebastian Munster issued in Basle his Cosmographia containing roughly sixty-six plans and views, some in the plan form, but many in the old panorama or birds eye view. (Ref: Tooley; M&B)

Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Green, blue, red, yellow
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 21 1/2in x 16in (550mm x 400mm)
Plate size: - 16 3/4in x 14 1/4in (440mm x 365mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Light chipping to margin edges
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None

• Title : Africae Tabula Nova
• Ref #:  43175
• Size: 15in x 13in (380mm x 330mm)
• Date : 1588
• Condition: (B) Good Condition

Description:

This beautifully hand coloured original antique map of Africa was published in the 1588 edition of Sebastian MunstersCosmographia published by Sebastian Petri, Basle.

The first separately printed map of Africa (as with the other known continents) appeared in Munster's Geographia from 1540 onwards and the first atlas devoted to Africa only was published in 1588 in Venice by Livio Sanuto, but the finest individual map of the century was that engraved on 8 sheets by Gastaldi, published in Venice in 1564. Apart from maps in sixteenth-century atlases generally there were also magnificent marine maps of 1596 by Jan van Linschoten (engraved by van Langrens) of the southern half of the continent with highly imaginative and decorative detail in the interior. In the next century there were many attractive maps including those of Mercator/Hondius (1606), Speed (1627), Blaeu (1 630), Visscher (1636), de Wit (c. 1670), all embellished with vignettes of harbours and principal towns and bordered with elaborate and colourful figures of their inhabitants, but the interior remained uncharted with the exception of that part of the continent known as Ethiopia, the name which was applied to a wide area including present-day Abyssinia. Here the legends of Prester John lingered on and, as so often happened in other remote parts of the world, the only certain knowledge of the region was provided by Jesuit missionaries. Among these was Father Geronimo Lobo (1595-1678), whose work A Voyage to Abyssinia was used as the basis for a remarkably accurate map published by a German scholar, Hiob Ludolf in 1683. Despite the formidable problems which faced them, the French cartographers G. Delisle (c. 1700-22), J. B. B. d'Anville (1727-49) and N. Bellin (1754) greatly improved the standards of mapping of the continent, improvements which were usually, although not always, maintained by Homann, Seutter, de Ia Rochette, Bowen, Faden and many others in the later years of the century.

Sebastian Petri re-release of Cosomgraphia in 1588 produced some fine woodcut maps in the "copperplate style". The maps in this release were more sophisticated than with earlier publications of Cosomgraphia and were based on the 1570 release of Abraham Ortelius monumental work Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

For a variety of reasons town plans were comparatively latecomers in the long history of cartography. Few cities in Europe in the middle ages had more than 20,00 inhabitants and even London in the late Elizabethan period had only 100-150,000 people which in itself was probably 10 times that of any other English city. The Nuremberg Chronicle in 1493 included one of the first town views of Jerusalem, thereafter, for most of the sixteenth century, German cartographers led the way in producing town plans in a modern sense. In 1544 Sebastian Munster issued in Basle his Cosmographia containing roughly sixty-six plans and views, some in the plan form, but many in the old panorama or birds eye view. (Ref: M&B;Tooley)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Light and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Later
Colors used: - Blue, yellow, green, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 15in x 13in (380mm x 330mm)
Margins: - 1/2in (12mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Small repair to bottom right & top left corner margin
Plate area: - None
Verso: - Re-enforced along centerfold

• Title : Africa Mit Seinen Besondern Lanendern, Thieren und Wunderbarlichen Dingen (Africa with its special countries, animals, and wonderful things)
• Size: 13 1/2in x 8 1/2in (345mm x 230mm)
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
• Date : 1588
• Ref #:  17058

Description:
This original wood-block engraved antique map of Africa, to text, by Sebastian Munster was published by Sebastian Petri in the 1588 edition of Cosmographia.
Most editions of Munster Cosmographia contained a small woodcut map of Africa as a text illustration. It excludes the Horn of Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, but Mons Lunae origina of the Nile appears, with many kingdoms Central and North Africa. Additional text and woodcuts appear on the verso of a battle and cannibal.

The Cosmographia or Cosmography was first published in 1544 and is the earliest German-language description of the world.
It had numerous editions in different languages including Latin, French (translated by François de Belleforest), Italian, English, and Czech. The last German edition was published in 1628. The Cosmographia was one of the most successful and popular books of the 16th century and passed through 24 editions in 100 years. This success was due to the notable woodcuts (some by Hans Holbein the Younger, Urs Graf, Hans Rudolph Manuel Deutsch, and David Kandel). It was most important in reviving geography in 16th-century Europe. Among the notable maps within Cosmographia is the map Die Newe Welt oder Inseln, which is credited as the first map to show the American continents as geographically unique.
Munsters earlier geographic works were Germania descriptio (1530) and Mappa Europae (1536). In 1540, he published a Latin edition of Ptolemy\\\'s Geographia, with numerous illustrations.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: -
Colors used: -
General color appearance: -
Paper size: - 13 1/2in x 8 1/2in (345mm x 230mm)
Plate size: - 6in x 5in (150mm x 130mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

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

Background: 
The first separately printed map of Africa (as with the other known continents) appeared in Munsters Geographia from 1540 onwards and the first atlas devoted to Africa only was published in 1588 in Venice by Livio Sanuto, but the finest individual map of the century was that engraved on 8 sheets by Gastaldi, published in Venice in 1564. Apart from maps in sixteenth-century atlases generally there were also magnificent marine maps of 1596 by Jan van Linschoten (engraved by van Langrens) of the southern half of the continent with highly imaginative and decorative detail in the interior. In the next century there were many attractive maps including those of Mercator/Hondius (1606), Speed (1627), Blaeu (1 630), Visscher (1636), de Wit (c. 1670), all embellished with vignettes of harbours and principal towns and bordered with elaborate and colourful figures of their inhabitants, but the interior remained uncharted with the exception of that part of the continent known as Ethiopia, the name which was applied to a wide area including present-day Abyssinia. Here the legends of Prester John lingered on and, as so often happened in other remote parts of the world, the only certain knowledge of the region was provided by Jesuit missionaries. Among these was Father Geronimo Lobo (1595-1678), whose work A Voyage to Abyssinia was used as the basis for a remarkably accurate map published by a German scholar, Hiob Ludolf in 1683. Despite the formidable problems which faced them, the French cartographers G. Delisle (c. 1700-22), J. B. B. dAnville (1727-49) and N. Bellin (1754) greatly improved the standards of mapping of the continent, improvements which were usually, although not always, maintained by Homann, Seutter, de Ia Rochette, Bowen, Faden and many others in the later years of the century, (Ref: Norwich; Tooley)

• Title : Hassia landtgrauiatus
• Date : 1589
• Size: 22 1/2in x 19in (570mm x 485mm)
• Ref #: 50254
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition

Description:
This fine original and extremely scarce 1st edition antique map of the German State of Hesse or Hessia in central Germany was published by Gerard Mercator.
These original maps by Gerard Mercator from his original 16th century atlas are rare and hard to find. These original map are identifiable by the design on the verso of the map without the long description, scroll design and were engraved prior to the sale of Mercators plates to Hondius in the first decade of the 17th century.

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: - 22 1/2in x 19in (570mm x 485mm)
Plate size: - 16 1/4in x 13 1/2in (415mm x 345mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - Light browning along centerfold, light age toning
Verso: - Small repair to top centerfold

Background: 
As early as the Paleolithic period, the Central Hessian region was inhabited. Due to the favorable climate of the location, people lived there about 50,000 years ago during the last glacial period, as burial sites show from this era. Finds of paleolitical tools in southern Hesse in Rüsselsheim suggest Pleistocene hunters about 13,000 years ago. The Züschen tomb (German: Steinkammergrab von Züschen, sometimes also Lohne-Züschen) is a prehistoric burial monument, located between Lohne and Züschen, near Fritzlar, Hesse, Germany. Classified as a gallery grave or a Hessian-Westphalian stone cist (hessisch-westfälische Steinkiste), it is one of the most important megalithic monuments in Central Europe. Dating to the late fourth millennium BC (and possibly remaining in use until the early third), it belongs to the Late Neolithic Wartberg culture.
An early Celtic presence in what is now Hesse is indicated by a mid-fifth-century BC La Tène-style burial uncovered at Glauberg. The region was later settled by the Germanic Chatti tribe around the first century BC, and the name Hesse is a continuation of that tribal name.
The ancient Romans had a military camp in Dorlar, and in Waldgirmes directly on the eastern outskirts of Wetzlar was a civil settlement under construction. Presumably, the provincial government for the occupied territories of the right bank of Germania was planned at this location. The governor of Germania, at least temporarily, likely had resided here. The settlement appears to have been abandoned by the Romans after the devastating Battle of the Teutoburg Forest failed in the year 9 AD. The Chatti were also involved in the Revolt of the Batavi in 69 AD.
Hessia, from the early seventh century on, served as a buffer between areas dominated by the Saxons (to the north) and the Franks, who brought the area to the south under their control in the early sixth century and occupied Thuringia (to the east) in 531. Hessia occupies the northwestern part of the modern German state of Hesse; its borders were not clearly delineated. Its geographic center is Fritzlar; it extends in the southeast to Hersfeld on the Fulda River, in the north to past Kassel and up to the rivers Diemel and Weser. To the west, it occupies the valleys of the Rivers Eder and Lahn (the latter until it turns south). It measured roughly 90 kilometers north-south, and 80 north-west.
The area around Fritzlar shows evidence of significant pagan belief from the first century on. Geismar was a particular focus of such activity; it was continuously occupied from the Roman period on, with a settlement from the Roman period, which itself had a predecessor from the fifth century BC. Excavations have produced a horse burial and bronze artifacts. A possible religious cult may have centered on a natural spring in Geismar, called Heilgenbron; the name \"Geismar\" (possibly \"energetic pool\") itself may be derived from that spring. The village of Maden, Gudensberg (de), now a part of Gudensberg near Fritzlar and less than ten miles from Geismar, was likely an ancient religious center; the basalt outcrop of Gudensberg is named for Wodan, and a two-meter tall quartz megalith called the Wotanstein is in the center of the village.
By 650, the Franks were establishing themselves as overlords, which is suggested by archeological evidence of burials, and were building fortifications in various places, including Christenberg. By 690, they were taking direct control over Hessia, apparently to counteract expansion by the Saxons, who built fortifications in Gaulskopf and Eresburg across the River Diemel, the northern boundary of Hessia. The Büraburg (which already had a Frankish settlement in the sixth century) was one of the places the Franks fortified to resist the Saxon pressure, and according to John-Henry Clay, the Büraburg was \"probably the largest man-made construction seen in Hessia for at least seven hundred years\". Walls and trenches totaling one kilometer in length were made, and they enclosed \"8 hectares of a spur that offered a commanding view over Fritzlar and the densely populated heart of Hessia\".
Following Saxon incursions into Chattish territory in the seventh century, two gaue had been established—a Frankish one, comprising an area around Fritzlar and Kassel, and a Saxon one. In the 9th century, the Saxon Hessengau also came under the rule of the Franconians. In the 12th, century it was passed to Thuringia.
In the War of the Thuringian Succession (1247–1264), Hesse gained its independence and became a Landgraviate within the Holy Roman Empire. It shortly rose to primary importance under Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous, who was one of the leaders of German Protestantism. After Philip\'s death in 1567, the territory was divided among his four sons from his first marriage (Philip was a bigamist) into four lines: Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Rheinfels, and the also previously existing Hesse-Marburg. As the latter two lines died out quite soon (1583 and 1605, respectively), Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt were the two core states within the Hessian lands. Several collateral lines split off during the centuries, such as in 1622, when Hesse-Homburg split off from Hesse-Darmstadt. In the late 16th century, Kassel adopted Calvinism, while Darmstadt remained Lutheran and subsequently the two lines often found themselves on different sides of a conflict, most notably in the disputes over Hesse-Marburg and in the Thirty Years\' War, when Darmstadt fought on the side of the Emperor, while Kassel sided with Sweden and France.
The Landgrave Frederick II (1720–1785) ruled as a benevolent despot, 1760–1785. He combined Enlightenment ideas with Christian values, cameralist plans for central control of the economy, and a militaristic approach toward diplomacy. He funded the depleted treasury of the poor nation by renting out 19,000 soldiers in complete military formations to Great Britain to fight in North America during the American Revolutionary War, 1776–1783. These soldiers, commonly known as Hessians, fought under the British flag. The British used the Hessians in several conflicts, including in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. For further revenue, the soldiers were rented out elsewhere, as well. Most were conscripted, with their pay going to the Landgrave.

• Title : Exxas; Graecia Sophiani. Ex Contibus Geographicis Abraham Ortelli Antierpiensis Ao. 1596
• Ref #:  35084
• Size: 20in x 15 1/2in (510mm x 390mm)
• Date : 1596
• Condition: (B) Good Condition

Description:

This fine beautifully hand coloured original  antique scarce map of Greece, Greek Islands & Western Turkey was engraved by Joducus Hondius in 1596 - dated in the title - and was published in P Bertius Atlas Historical Atlas in 1618. Blank verso.
This is a rare 1st edition of this map. It has undergone some professional restoration and is priced accordingly.

There were only 2 editions of this map engraved by Hondius in 1596, one with and one without dots in the sea. This one has the dots. In later editions the Hondius signature was removed as was the date   from the title. (Ref: Koeman; M&B)

Condition Report
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Red, yellow, green, blue
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 20in x 15 1/2in (510mm x 390mm)
Plate size: - 20in x 14 1/4in (510mm x 365mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (7mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Light soiling, bottom left corner professionally restored
Plate area: - Profession repairs to centerfold, light soiling
Verso: - Soiling on verso

• Title : Gallipolis
• Ref #:  82085
• Size: 20 3/4in x 16in (520mm x 405mm)
• Date : 1598
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This beautiful original hand coloured copper plate engraved antique map a birds eye view of the Old Town of Gallipoli located on the Salentine Peninsula, in Apulia, Southern Italy & the Angevine-Aragonese Castle, was engraved by the Italian Natale Bonifacio di Girolamo, was published in the 1598 edition of Braun & Hogenbergs atlas on Civitates Orbis Terrarum

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 20 3/4in x 16in (520mm x 405mm)
Plate size: - 20in x 16in (520mm x 405mm)
Margins: - Min 1/8in (3mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Top of right margin cropped to border
Plate area: - None
Verso: - Light soiling

Background: 
Gallipoli is a southern Italian town and comune in the province of Lecce, in Apulia.
The town is located by the Ionian Sea, on the west coast of the Salentina Peninsula. The town of Gallipoli is divided into two parts, the modern and the old city. The new town includes all the newest buildings including a skyscraper. The old town is located on a limestone island, linked to the mainland by a bridge built in the 16th century.
According to a legend, the city was founded in ancient times by Idomeneus of Crete. Pliny the Elder attributes the foundation to the Senones Gauls, while more likely it was a Messapic settlement. Historically, what is known is that Gallipoli was a city of the Greater Greece, ruling over a large territory including today\'s Porto Cesareo. In 265 BC it sided with Pyrrhus and Taranto against ancient Rome, suffering a defeat which relegated it to a Roman colony (later a municipium).
In the early Middle Ages, it was most likely sacked by the Vandals and the Goths. Rebuilt by the Byzantines, Gallipoli lived an economically and socially flourishing period due to its geographical position. Later it was owned by the Roman Popes, and was a centre of fighting against the Greek monastic orders.
In the 11th century Gallipoli was conquered by the Normans and, in 1268, it was besieged by Charles I of Anjou, causing numerous inhabitants to flee to the nearby Alezio. The city was repopulated around 1300, under the feudal rule of the principality of Taranto. In 1484 the Venetians tried to occupy it, but without results. King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies started the construction of the port, which in the 18th century became the largest olive oil market in the Mediterranean.
After the unification of Italy (1861), Gallipoli was capital of a circondario, together with Lecce and Taranto.

• Title : Die Statt Landaw
• Ref #:  33576
• Size: 17in x 14 1/2in (435mm x 370mm)
• Date : 1628
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition

Description: 
This large finely engraved original antique print a view of the German City of Landau in the state of Bavaria NE of Munich was published by Sebastian Munster in the 1628 edition of Cosmographia.

Landau or Landau in der Pfalz (pop. 41,821) is an autonomous (kreisfrei) city surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990), a long-standing cultural centre, and a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages of the Palatinate wine region. Landau lies east of the Palatinate forest, Europe's largest contiguous forest, direct on the German Wine Route.

Background: For a variety of reasons town plans were comparatively latecomers in the long history of cartography. Few cities in Europe in the middle ages had more than 20,00 inhabitants and even London in the late Elizabethan period had only 100-150,000 people which in itself was probably 10 times that of any other English city. The Nuremberg Chronicle in 1493 included one of the first town views of Jerusalem, thereafter, for most of the sixteenth century, German cartographers led the way in producing town plans in a modern sense. In 1544 Sebastian Munster issued in Basle his Cosmographia containing roughly sixty-six plans and views, some in the plan form, but many in the old panorama or birds eye view.

Sebastian Münster (1488-1552) was a German cartographer, cosmographer, and Hebrew scholar whose work Cosmographia (1544; "Cosmography") was the earliest German description of the world and a major work in the revival of geographic thought in 16th-century Europe. It had numerous editions in different languages including Latin, French, Italian, English, and even Czech. Altogether, about 40 editions of the Cosmographia appeared between 1544 and 1628 and was one of the most successful and popular books of the 16th century. Münster was a major influence in popular thinking in Europe for the next 200 years.
This success was due not only to the level of descriptive detail but also to the fascinating full page maps & views as well as smaller woodcuts that were included in the text. Many of the woodcuts were executed by famous engravers of the time including Hans Holbein the Younger, Urs Graf, Hans Rudolph Manuel Deutsch, and David Kandel. 
Aside from the well-known maps present in the Cosmographia, the text is thickly sprinkled with vigorous views: portraits of kings and princes, costumes and occupations, habits and customs, flora and fauna, monsters, wonders, and horrors about the known -- and unknown -- world, and was undoubtedly one of the most widely read books of its time.
Münster acquired the material for his book in three ways. Firstly he researched all available literary sources across Germany, Switzerland and other parts of Europe. Secondly he obtained original manuscript material from locals all over Europe for description of the countryside, cities, villages, towns, rivers and local history. Finally, he obtained further material first hand on his travels (primarily in south-west Germany, Switzerland, and Alsace). 

In 1588 Sebastian Petri re-released Cosomgraphia and re-issued many of Munsters maps and views in the "copperplate style". The maps in this release were more sophisticated than with earlier publications of Cosomgraphia and were based on the 1570 release of Abraham Ortelius monumental work Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.(Ref: Tooley; M&B)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Light and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - 
Colors used: - 
General color appearance: - 
Paper size: - 17in x 14 1/2in (435mm x 370mm)
Plate size: - 17in x 14 1/2in (435mm x 370mm)
Margins: - 1/2in (10mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Age toning
Plate area: -Age toning
Verso: - Age toning

• Title : Die Statt Wormbs
• Ref #:  30347
• Size: 15 1/2in x 13in (420mm x 330mm)
• Date : 1598
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition

Description: 
This large finely engraved original antique print a view of the Germany city of Wormbs was published by Sebastian Munster in the 1598 edition ofCosmographia.

Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about 60 kilometres (40 miles) south-southwest of Frankfurt-am-Main. It had some 80,000 inhabitants as of 2013.
A pre-Roman foundation, Worms was the capital of the kingdom of the Burgundians in the early 5th century and hence the scene of the medieval legends referring to this period, notably the first part of the Nibelungenlied. Worms has been a Roman Catholic bishopric since at least 614, and was an important palatinate of Charlemagne. Worms Cathedral is one of the Imperial Cathedrals and among the finest examples of Romanesque architecture in Germany. Worms prospered in the High Middle Ages as an Imperial Free City. Among more than a hundred Imperial Diets held at Worms, the Diet of 1521 (commonly known as the Diet of Worms) ended with the Edict of Worms in which Martin Luther was declared a heretic. Today, the city is an industrial centre and is famed as the origin of Liebfraumilch wine. Other industries include chemicals and metal goods.

Background: For a variety of reasons town plans were comparatively latecomers in the long history of cartography. Few cities in Europe in the middle ages had more than 20,00 inhabitants and even London in the late Elizabethan period had only 100-150,000 people which in itself was probably 10 times that of any other English city. The Nuremberg Chronicle in 1493 included one of the first town views of Jerusalem, thereafter, for most of the sixteenth century, German cartographers led the way in producing town plans in a modern sense. In 1544 Sebastian Munster issued in Basle hisCosmographia containing roughly sixty-six plans and views, some in the plan form, but many in the old panorama or birds eye view.

Sebastian Münster (1488-1552) was a German cartographer, cosmographer, and Hebrew scholar whose work Cosmographia (1544; "Cosmography") was the earliest German description of the world and a major work in the revival of geographic thought in 16th-century Europe. It had numerous editions in different languages including Latin, French, Italian, English, and even Czech. Altogether, about 40 editions of the Cosmographiaappeared between 1544 and 1628 and was one of the most successful and popular books of the 16th century. Münster was a major influence in popular thinking in Europe for the next 200 years.
This success was due not only to the level of descriptive detail but also to the fascinating full page maps & views as well as smaller woodcuts that were included in the text. Many of the woodcuts were executed by famous engravers of the time including Hans Holbein the Younger, Urs Graf, Hans Rudolph Manuel Deutsch, and David Kandel. 
Aside from the well-known maps present in the Cosmographia, the text is thickly sprinkled with vigorous views: portraits of kings and princes, costumes and occupations, habits and customs, flora and fauna, monsters, wonders, and horrors about the known -- and unknown -- world, and was undoubtedly one of the most widely read books of its time.
Münster acquired the material for his book in three ways. Firstly he researched all available literary sources across Germany, Switzerland and other parts of Europe. Secondly he obtained original manuscript material from locals all over Europe for description of the countryside, cities, villages, towns, rivers and local history. Finally, he obtained further material first hand on his travels (primarily in south-west Germany, Switzerland, and Alsace). 

In 1588 Sebastian Petri re-released Cosomgraphia and re-issued many of Munsters maps and views in the "copperplate style". The maps in this release were more sophisticated than with earlier publications ofCosomgraphia and were based on the 1570 release of Abraham Ortelius monumental work Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.(Ref: Tooley; M&B)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Light and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - 
Colors used: - 
General color appearance: - 
Paper size: - 15 1/2in x 13in (420mm x 330mm)
Plate size: - 15 1/2in x 13in (420mm x 330mm)
Margins: - 0in (0mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - L&R margins cropped to image
Plate area: -Age toning along center-fold
Verso: - Light soiling

• Title : Hispania Nova Descriptio de Integro...Petrus Kaerius
• Date : 1607
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition
• Ref:  42002
• Size: 20in x 18in (510mm x 430mm)

Description: 
This fine beautifully hand coloured original antique map of Spain & Portugal by Gerard Mercator was published by Rumold Mercator &Jodocus Hondius in the very early 1607 Latin edition of Mercators Atlas.
This map is magnificent with beautiful original hand colouring. Original colouring such as this is scarce and hard to find.
These maps, published in the early editions of Mercators atlas, are the original maps drawn and engraved by Gerald Mercator in the mid to late 16th century, published by his son Rumold as an atlas, after his death, in 1595. After two editions the plates were purchased by Jodocus Hondius in 1604 and continued to be published until the mid 1630's when the plates were re-engraved and updated by Jan Jansson and Henricus Hondius.

Background:
Many of the original charts and maps drawn by the first Portuguese and Spanish navigators have survived for the very good reason that, on completion of their voyages, pilots were obliged to hand over their manuscript notes to the Casa da India (founded 1504) in Lisbon or to the equivalent Casa de Contrataci6n de las Indias (founded 1504) in Seville. The clear intention was to maintain secrecy over new discoveries and control over the distribution of cartographic material, not always successfully, as it happened; pilots and navigators seem to have changed allegiance with impunity and, in consequence, many of the earliest and most informative charts were compiled as far away as Genoa, Venice, Florence and Ancona, presumably from sources outside the Portuguese and Spanish 'Casas'.It is apparent that few manuscripts reached the printing stage and, indeed, are so rare that any study of them must be regarded as a specialist subject. (Ref Tooley M&B)(Ref: Koeman; Tooley)

Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, red, green, purple, blue
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 20in x 18in (510mm x 430mm)
Plate size: - 20in x 16in (420mm x 380mm)
Margins: - Min 0in (0mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Left margin cropped into border
Plate area: - Light creasing along centerfold
Verso: - Light re-enforcing along centerfold 

• Title : Irlandiae regnum
• Date : 1607
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition
• Ref:  42003
• Size: 20in x 18in (560mm x 430mm)

Description: 
This fine beautifully hand coloured original antique map of Ireland by Gerald Mercator was published by Rumold Mercator & Jodocus Hondius in the very early 1607 Latin edition of Mercators Atlas.

This map is magnificent with beautiful original hand colouring. Original colouring such as this is scarce and hard to find.
These maps, published in the early editions of Mercators atlas, are the original maps drawn and engraved by Gerald Mercator in the mid to late 16th century, published by his sons Rumold & Henricus as an atlas, after his death, in 1595. After two editions the plates were purchased by Jodocus Hondius in 1604 and  continued to be published until the mid 1630's when the plates were re-engraved and updated by Jan Jansson and Henricus Hondius.

The earliest maps of Ireland up to the year 1500 or so share the shortcomings of those of the rest of the British Isles especially as represented on world maps. It was not to be expected that lands literally on the very edge of the known world could be depicted with any accuracy; very often one feels that the cartographers or engravers placed the islands in the nearest available space consistent with their imagined position. Even in the first printed Ptolemaic map there is still much distortion in Ireland's shape and geographical position but, on the other hand, a quite surprising number of place names and other details are shown, as many, in fact, as in the rest of Britain put together. This detailed knowledge is not as puzzling as it might appear, for the Ptolemy maps, at least the later editions from 1513 onwards, were based on Italian portulan charts and these, in turn, reflected knowledge gained during the long commercial relationship which had existed between Italy and Ireland ever since the thirteenth century. The distortions on land-surveyed maps remained uncorrected until late in the seventeenth century but a quite accurate coastal outline was given in the marine atlases of Waghenaer, Dudley, Blaeu and later Dutch chart makers.

Apart from a few manuscript maps and very rare maps printed in Rome and Venice (George Lily, 1546, and others in the period 1560-66) Ireland is shown on Mercator's large map of the British Isles (1564), and in his Atlas (1595) and as a separate sheet in the Ortelius atlases (from 1 573). The most important map, however, was compiled by an Italian, Baptista Boazio, probably in the 1 5 8os. This has survived in manuscript form and may have been used by Pieter van der Keere for a map published by Jodocus Hondius in 1591. Boazio's map was subsequently published by John Sudbury, who later sold Speed's maps, and this version was included in editions of the Ortelius atlases from 6oz onwards. The Boazio map is a quite splendid map, very decorative, some copies even showing an Eskimo complete with kayak and hunting spear. Thereafter the trend is familiar: Camden, Speed, Blaeu, Jansson, Sanson and others of the Dutch and French schools all included a general map or maps of the Irish provinces in their atlases. Speed's map of the whole of Ireland was based at least partly on surveys by Robert Lythe (c.1570) and Francis Jobson(c.1590) and included figures in national costume; it was for long regarded as the best map available and was much copied by publishers in other countries.

In 1685 the first atlas of Ireland to match Saxton's At/as of Eng/andand Wales was published by Sir William Petty as Hiberniae Detineaho, the result of a highly organized and detailed survey (the 'Down' survey) carried out in the years following 1655. Re-issued in miniature form soon afterwards by Francis Lamb, Petty's Atlas was widely used as the basis for practically all maps of Ireland produced by English, French, Dutch and German publishers in the following century. Apart from re-issues of Petty's Atlas and its many copyists there were maps by George Grierson, a Dublin publisher, John Rocque, the Huguenot surveyor and engraver who spent some years in Dublin, and Bernard Scale, Rocque's brother-in-law. 

Towards the end of the century many large-scale maps were published but, as in England, private mapping was gradually overtaken and eventually replaced by the Ordnance Survey maps produced between the years 1824 and 1846.(Ref: Koeman, Tooley)

Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, red, green, purple, blue
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 20in x 18in (560mm x 430mm)
Plate size: - 17 1/2in x 14in (420mm x 330mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Light age toning to margins
Plate area: - Old professional repair to 45mm sq to left side
Verso: - Old professional repair to text "H"

• Title : Austria Archiducatus
• Ref #:  60052
• Size: 22in x 18in (560mm x 460mm) 
• Date : 1609
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This beautifully engraved hand coloured original antique map of Austria was published in the 1609 French edition of Mercators Atlas published by Henricus Hondius and Jan Jansson.

These maps, published in the later editions of Mercators atlas, are derived from the original maps drawn and engraved by Gerald Mercator in the mid to late 16th century, published by his son Rumold as an atlas, after his death, in 1595. After two editions the plates were purchased by Jodocus Hondius in 1604 and continued to be published until the mid 1630's when the plates were re-engraved and updated by Jan Jansson and Henricus Hondius.

Condition Report
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Red, yellow, green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 22in x 18in (560mm x 460mm) 
Plate size: - 19 1/2in x 13in (485mm x 330mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

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

• Title : Holy Iland; Garnsay; Farne; Jarsey
• Date : 1611
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition
• Ref:  92499
• Size: 21in x 16in (535mm x 405mm)

Description:
This finely engraved beautifully hand coloured original antique map by John Speed of the English Islands of Holy & Farne Island's; Guernsey & Jersey was published by John Sudbury & George Humbell in the 1611 1st  edition of John Speeds famous atlas The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, first published in 1611. 
The verso contains text in English describing the 4 Islands and their history. (Ref: Tooley; M&B)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable 
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original & later color
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, red, pink
General color appearance: - Beautiful 
Paper size: - 21in x 16in (535mm x 405mm)
Plate size: - 20 1/2in x 15 1/2in (520mm x 395mm)
Margins: - Min 1/4in (6mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Restoration to top, left & bottom margins
Plate area: - Light creasing, repair to bottom publishers cartouche, no lo0ss
Verso: - Colour show through, restoration to bottom centrefold and margins as noted

• Title : Europa ad magnae Europae Gerardi Mercatoris P. imitationem Rumoldi Mercatoris . . ..
• Date : 1613
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition
• Ref:  93357
• Size: 21 1/2in x 17in (545mm x 435mm)

Description:
The beautiful original hand colouring on this map is incredibly striking, on this original antique map of Europe published in the 1613 French edition of Gerard Mercators Atlas Sive Cosmographia.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Blue, pink, red, green, yellow
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 21 1/2in x 17in (545mm x 435mm)
Plate size: - 18 1/2in x 15 1/4in (470mm x 390mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Soiling, age toning, old neutralised tape mark bottom right
Plate area: - Neutralised tape mark bottom right
Verso: - Soiling, age toning, old neutralised tape mark

Background:
The detail for the map is taken from Mercators large 1569 world wall map and includes much detail, both real and fictitious. The original colouring denotes the political country boundaries of the 15th & 16th centuries. To the north are shown the islands of the Northern Arctic, Terra Polaris Pars, Greenland and the eastern extremity of America. To the south of Iceland is the fictitious island of Frisland where the Venetian brothers Nicolo and Antonio Zeno claimed where they were stranded after discovering America before Columbus. The younger Zeno produced a map describing these false discoveries. Mercator accepted these falsehoods and copied them into this map. Other cartographers at this time were fooled by Mercator and also copied his mistake. Frisland appears more dominate than the real island of Iceland.
The map is beautifully engraved, with Mercators recognisable flair and beautiful, rare original hand colouring. A beautiful map

• Title : Champagne - Comitatus Campania
• Ref #:  50246
• Size: 24in x 19 1/2in (610mm x 495mm)
• Date : 1619
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description: 
This large beautifully hand coloured original antique map of The Champagne region of France was published in the 1619 edition ofMercators Atlas published by Henricus Hondius and Jan Jansson. 
The map centres on the city of Chalons east to Verdun, west to Troyes, north to Dormans and south to Chaumont. (Ref: Tooley, Koeman)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Green, red, orange, yellow, blue
General color appearance: - Authentic 
Paper size: - 24in x 19 1/2in (610mm x 495mm)
Plate size: - 20in x 15in (535mm x 380mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

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

• Title :Midle-sex Described with the most Famous Cities of London and Westminster
• Ref #:  17053
• Size: 20 1/2in x 16 1/4in (520mm x 410mm)
• Date : 17053
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition

Description:
This original hand coloured antique map & views of London and the English county of Middlesex by John Speed was published in the 1627 edition of Speeds famous atlas The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine.
The map is embellished with the famous birds-eye views of London, Westminster and the churches of St Peters (Westminster Abbey) and old St Pauls before the great fire of London in 1666. English descriptive text of London on the verso.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 20 1/2in x 16 1/4in (520mm x 410mm)
Plate size: - 20 1/2in x 16 1/4in (520mm x 410mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - L&R margins re-enforced by strips on verso
Plate area: - Light soiling
Verso: - Light toning

Background:
This county map of Middlesex, now greater London, illustrates the market towns of Enfield, Pancras, Osterley and Staines. The map is dominated by four large vignettes with the environs of London and the county situated in the central portion of the map. The actual cartography is based on the surveys performed by John Norden, the earlier English antiquary and map maker, who unsuccessfully attempted to publish an updated county atlas of the United Kingdom before Speed. Norden also lived most of his life in Middlesex, thus becoming an obvious source for the map.
The City of London is clearly shown on the lower right of the map with villages such as Hamsted, Pancras, Kensington and Paddington marked around the city. To the lower centre of the map is an acknowledgement to the original survey by Norden, augmented by Speed himself.
Although the cartography is of some note, it is the vignettes for which this map is justly famous. To the two bottom corners are the famous Churchs of St. Peter (Westminster Abbey) Westminster on the left and St. Pauls to the right. This is the medieval Cathedral of St. Pauls, just after it had lost its spire in 1561 and before the Great Fire of 1666, in which it was destroyed then rebuilt in its present form by Sir Christopher Wren. Above these two church vignettes are two text panels in the form of books, the one on the left describing the two churches and the other on the right with a description of London itself.
Finally, two large vignettes on the upper left and right corners depict the two cities of Westminster and London respectively. It is believed that Speed was not responsible for either of these images, more likely drawing from Norden, although there are no surviving evidence of this, to date yet to be found. There are also theories that these two views may have come from either a German sources or other lost birds-eye views of London by unknown persons.
Due to modern growth of London and border changes, the county of Middlesex no longer exists, but there is little doubt this is the most the best map of London and Middlesex published in the 17th century. English text on versoJohn Speed

• Title : Burgundiae Comitatus Franche Comte.
• Ref #:  50256
• Size: 23 1/2in x 20in (610mm x 510mm)
• Date : 1628
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This beautifully hand coloured original copper-plate engraved antique map of the historical region of the Free County of Burgundy (Franche Comte de Bourgogne) of eastern France by Jan Jansson - was published in the 1628 edition of Mercators Atlas by Jan Jansson and Henricus Hondius.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 23 1/2in x 20in (610mm x 510mm)
Plate size: - 19 1/2in x 15 1/2in (500mm x 390mm)
Margins: - Min 2in (50mm)

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

Background: 
The Free County of Burgundy (French: Franche Comté de Bourgogne; German: Freigrafschaft Burgund) was a medieval county (from 982 to 1678) of the Holy Roman Empire, within the modern region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, whose very name is still reminiscent of the title of its count: Freigraf (\'free count\', denoting imperial immediacy, or franc comte in French, hence the term franc(he) comté for his feudal principality). It should not be confused with the more westerly Duchy of Burgundy, a fiefdom of Francia since 843.

• Title : Die Statt Colmar
• Ref #:  33571
• Size: 17in x 15in (435mm x 380mm)
• Date : 1628
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This finely engraved original antique print* a view of the French city of city of Colmar, in the Alsace region in north-eastern France was published in the 1628 last release of Sebastian Munsters Cosmographia published by Sebastian Petri, Basle.

Sebastian Petri re-release of Cosomgraphia in 1588 produced some fine woodcut maps in the "copperplate style". The maps in this release were more sophisticated than with earlier publications of Cosomgraphia and were based on the 1570 release of Abraham Ortelius monumental work Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

Background: For a variety of reasons town plans were comparatively latecomers in the long history of cartography. Few cities in Europe in the middle ages had more than 20,00 inhabitants and even London in the late Elizabethan period had only 100-150,000 people which in itself was probably 10 times that of any other English city. The Nuremberg Chronicle in 1493 included one of the first town views of Jerusalem, thereafter, for most of the sixteenth century, German cartographers led the way in producing town plans in a modern sense. In 1544 Sebastian Munster issued in Basle his Cosmographia containing roughly sixty-six plans and views, some in the plan form, but many in the old panorama or birds eye view. (Ref: Tooley; M&B)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Light and stable
Paper color: - White
Age of map color: - 
Colors used: - 
General color appearance: - 
Paper size: - 17in x 15in (435mm x 380mm)
Margins: - Min ½in (12mm)

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

• Title : Die Statt Solothurn
• Ref #:  33566
• Size: 17in x 15in (435mm x 380mm)
• Date : 1628
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description: 
This finely engraved hand coloured original antique print* a view of the Swiss City of Solothurn was published in the last 1628  release of Sebastian Munsters Cosmographia published by Sebastian Petri, Basle.

Background: During the Early Middle Ages, Solothurn was part of the Kingdom of Lotharingia (Lorraine). After the collapse of Lotharingia, it became part of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy. In 1033, the Kingdom of Burgundy became part of the Holy Roman Empire and Solothurn gained some independence. In 1038, Emperor Conrad II held court at Solothurn and there crowned his son, Henry III King of Burgundy. The royal court resided in Solothurn on several occasions until 1052, however, there is no evidence of a permanent royal palace. In 1127, it was acquired by the dukes of Zähringen. Under the rule of the Zähringens, in 1146, Solothurn's coins are first mentioned. In 1182, causidicus or Zähringen appointed judges first appeared in Solothurn. After the extinction of the Zähringer line in 1218 it became a free imperial city under the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1252, the town council andSchultheiss or mayor became mostly independent and had their own town seals. In 1251 it was mentioned as saluerre and in 1275 as Solotren. Starting around 1200, there was a council of nobles in the town.
In 1252, a group of nobles that could witness and support deeds, known as consuls et cives Solodorenses, first appears in the town. Initially the nobles exercised power over the entire town. However, the guild movement of the 14th Century resulted in a reduction in the power of the nobles and also a restricted guild system in Solothurn. By around 1350, an eleven-member Altrat (Council of Elders) and a 22-member Jungrat (Younger Council) existed in the city. Each of the eleven guilds were represented by a member of the Altrat and two members of the Jungrat. These 33 councillors exercised, together with the mayor, the power of government and helped appoint law makers. The members of the two councils were elected each year by the citizens of the city, after which the councils and mayor appointed many of the government officials. The noble families retained some power as the guilds became part of the town council. However, in 1459 the last noble family died out and positions on the council fell to wealthy farmers, butchers and millers.
Until the pogrom on 1348 during an outbreak of the plague, there was a small Jewish community in Solothurn.
Over the 13th to 15th centuries, the citizens of the city slowly emancipated themselves from the higher nobility. In 1276 and 1280 Emperor Rudolf I codified the previously poorly defined rights of the city and granted it the privilege de non Evocando or the right that their citizens were protected from trial in foreign courts. In 1344 Solothurn acquired the right to appoint their own Schultheiss from the Count of Buchegg, which was confirmed by Emperor Charles IV in 1360. In 1409, Emperor Ruprecht extended the de non Evocando privilege to include the royal High Court as well.
As the city grew in power, it bound the Monastery of St. Ursus more closely to the city. In 1251 the city defeated claims made by the Monastery on the right to appoint the Schultheiss. Shortly after the acquisition of the right to the Schultheiss office in 1344, the city came into possession of the vogt right over the Monastery by granting citizenship rights to the former vogt (bailiff), Burkhard Senn the Elder. In 1512-20 the city received the right to appoint canons and provosts from the Pope.
After the alliance with Bern in 1295, it became part of the Swiss Confederation. In 1382 the Habsburgs attacked the city, involving Solothurn in the Battle of Sempach. By the treaty of two years later, the Habsburgs renounced all claims to the territory of the city. The latter was expanded by acquisition of neighbouring lands in the 15th century, roughly up to the today's canton area.
In 1481, it obtained full membership in the Swiss Confederation. From 1530 to 1792 it was the seat of the French ambassador to Switzerland.

Sebastian Petri re-release of Cosomgraphia in 1588 produced some fine woodcut maps in the "copperplate style". The maps in this release were more sophisticated than with earlier publications of Cosomgraphia and were based on the 1570 release of Abraham Ortelius monumental work Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.
For a variety of reasons town plans were comparatively latecomers in the long history of cartography. Few cities in Europe in the middle ages had more than 20,00 inhabitants and even London in the late Elizabethan period had only 100-150,000 people which in itself was probably 10 times that of any other English city. The Nuremberg Chronicle in 1493 included one of the first town views of Jerusalem, thereafter, for most of the sixteenth century, German cartographers led the way in producing town plans in a modern sense. In 1544 Sebastian Munster issued in Basle his Cosmographia containing roughly sixty-six plans and views, some in the plan form, but many in the old panorama or birds eye view. (Ref: Tooley; M&B)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Light and stable
Paper color: - White
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Blue, green, red, brown
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 17in x 15in (435mm x 380mm)
Margins: - Min ½in (12mm)

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

• Title : Landtaffel Etlicher Boewen des Swabenlands...
• Ref #:  33586
• Size: 21in x 13 1/2in (530mm x 340mm)
• Date : 1628
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This finely engraved hand coloured original antique map of part of German Swaben in Southern Bavaria - centering on the city of Nordlingen stretching to the Danube River - was published in the 1628 last release of Sebastian Munsters Cosmographia published by Sebastian Petri, Basle.

Background:
Swabia - Schwabenland -  is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in south-western Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of Swabia, one of the German stem duchies, representing the territory of Alemannia, whose inhabitants interchangeably were called Alemanni or Suebi.
This territory would include all of the Alemannic German area, but the modern concept of Swabia is more restricted, due to the collapse of the duchy of Swabia in the thirteenth century. Swabia as understood in modern ethnography roughly coincides with the Swabian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire as it stood during the Early Modern period, now divided between the states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.
Nördlingen is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, It was first mentioned in recorded history in 898, and in 1998 the town celebrated its 1100th anniversary. The town was the location of two battles during the Thirty Years' War, which took place between 1618–1648.
The remains of a Roman castellum, built in the 85AD and probably called Septemiacum, have been found under the city.  In 1998, Nördlingen celebrated its 1100-year-old history.
Nördlingen was one of Germany's major trading towns, until its importance declined with the battles of the Thirty Years' War. In 1215 Emperor Frederick II declared Nördlingen aFree Imp erial City, and it remained so until 1802 when it changed to become part of present-day Bavaria. The Nördlingen trade fair (Pfingstmesse) was first mentioned in 1219.
A well-documented legal case of 1471 involved the prostitute Els von Eystett who worked in Nördlingen's Frauenhaus, an officially sanctioned municipal brothel.
Nördlingen was one of the first Protestant cities and took part in the Protestation at Speyer in 1529.

Sebastian Petri re-release of Cosomgraphia in 1588 produced some fine woodcut maps in the "copperplate style". The maps in this release were more sophisticated than with earlier publications of Cosomgraphia and were based on the 1570 release of Abraham Ortelius monumental work Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.
For a variety of reasons town plans were comparatively latecomers in the long history of cartography. Few cities in Europe in the middle ages had more than 20,00 inhabitants and even London in the late Elizabethan period had only 100-150,000 people which in itself was probably 10 times that of any other English city. The Nuremberg Chronicle in 1493 included one of the first town views of Jerusalem, thereafter, for most of the sixteenth century, German cartographers led the way in producing town plans in a modern sense. In 1544 Sebastian Munster issued in Basle his Cosmographia containing roughly sixty-six plans and views, some in the plan form, but many in the old panorama or birds eye view. (Ref: Tooley; M&B)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Light and stable
Paper color: - White
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Blue, green, orange
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 17in x 15in (435mm x 380mm)
Margins: - Min ½in (12mm)

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

• Title : America
• Ref #:  61032
• Size: 22 1/4in x 18 1/4in (565mm x 465mm)
• Date : 1630
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This magnificent and extremely important, hand coloured original antique map of America was drawn and engraved by Jodocus Hondius for inclusion in his editions of Gerard Mercator's Atlas sive Cosmographicae between 1606 and 1630. This actual map is from the last 1630 Latin edition, identified by the text line Mmmmmmmm on the verso of the map.

This map like many of the time was published on a stereographic projection and is an amalgam of various sources. It incorporates a more correct west coast of South America and narrows still further the longitudinal width of New Spain at the Tropic of Cancer, making it just 10°, much closer in reality. However, like all cartography before, it still retains an enlarged North American continent.
A Plancius type depiction of Newfoundland occurs alongside a typical representation of the east coast, with a more protruding Virginia than usual. Various scenes taken from earlier volumes of de Bry's Grand Voyages adorn the whole. Particularly notable is the native Brazilian scene illustrating the method used to make the local beverage, derived from Hans Stadens voyage as recorded by de Bry. 
There are various galleons, kayaks and Indian canoes along with a pair of birds perched on the inset.

Background: This map was engraved by Jodocus Hondius for his first edition of Gerard Mercator's atlas. Intended to be a grand comprehensive work, with the first part originally appearing in 1585, by Mercator's death in 1594 only two parts had been published. Continued by his family, it was still incomplete for the 1602 edition, lacking most importantly a section on the Iberian peninsula. During this time it was also competing with the remarkably successful atlas of Abraham Ortelius which averaged almost one edition per year. By 1604 Jodocus Hondius was flourishing, and in that year acquired all of the plates from Mercator's descendant. He immediately set about engraving many new maps to augment and complete the work, amongst which was a set of the four continents. He also had the original text expanded by Petrus Montanus. In the following year he brought out Mercator's Ptolemy, and in 1606 his first edition of the general atlas which proved instantly popular, selling out within a year. 
Right up until 1630 this attractive map was issued alongside the AMERICA sive INDIA NOVA by Michael Mercator, 1595. Since the text describing America was always used by the Mercator, this one is always lacking one. Produced on a stereographic projection like more and more maps of the time, it is an amalgam of various sources. (Ref: Burden; Koeman; M&B; Tooley)

Condition Report
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - White
Age of map color: - Original & later
Colors used: - Red, yellow, green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 22 1/4in x 18 1/4in (565mm x 465mm)
Plate size: - 19 3/4in x 14 3/4in (500mm x 375mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Professional repair to bottom center-fold and bottom left margin 1 1/2in into image, no loss
Plate area: - None
Verso: - Light age toning

• Title : Chorographia Terrae Sanctae in angustiorem Formam Redacta, et ex variis auctoribus a multis errorbus expurgata
• Ref #:  82082
• Size: 33 3/4in x 13 3/4in (855mm x 350mm)
• Date : 1632
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition

Description:
This large magnificent, hand coloured original copper plate engraved antique 1st edition map of the Holy Land by Johann Belling & Augustus Vindel was published in the 1632 edition of Commentarius in Sacram Scripturam (Commentary on the New and Old Testament) by the Belgian Jesuit monk Jacobus Tirinus.
This is without doubt one of the most visually stunning maps of the Holy land ever published and there have been many elaborated & beautiful maps of this important region published since the dark ages, when the Holy Land was considered the geographical center of the world.
This map was originally prepared in 1632 for Tirinuss study of the Holy Land and was originally engraved by Cornelius Galle and printed in Antwerp by Martinus Nutius. Tirinuss work went through many editions and printings 

Background: Oriented to the East the map is surrounded with panels of vignettes displaying sacred objects including a menorah, the arc of the covenant, the altar of sacrifices, the Tabernacle, and a plan and elevations of the Temple. At center is an inset bird's-eye plan of ancient Jerusalem based on the Spanish biblical geographer, Juan Bautista Vilalpando. Oriented with east at top, the map includes the territories of the twelve tribes on both sides of the Jordan River and the route of the Exodus and Wandering. The map depicts from Syria and Tyre southward as far as the Sinai, Egypt and Thebes. At the southern most point, in Egypt, is located the city of Thebes and, slightly to the north, near Memphis, the wildly misshapen Pyramids of Egypt. Slightly further north is the city of Tanis, possible resting place for the Ark of the Covenant. In this spirit, slightly to the south of Tanis, the city of Ramesse is indicated as the starting point of the Biblical Exodus and the wandering of the Hebrews. Following their path into the desert and across the Red Sea – where Pharaoh is shown being inundated by the returning waters following Moses’ parting of the Red Sea. Now in the Sinai, we can follow the footsteps of the Hebrews to Mount Sinai (Sinai Mons), where Moses is drawn throwing down the tablets of God. Slightly to the northwest of this location a cleft in the mountains reveals the location of the ancient Nabatean city of Petra. With regard to Petra, the location and gorge detail is surprisingly accurate considering that it was only “discovered” by the Swiss adventurer Johannes L. Burckhardt, in 1812, 200 years after this map was drawn. Heading northward the lands claimed by the various tribes of Israel are beautifully detailed along with major cities, camps, roads, and trade routes. The Mediterranean is decorated with sailing ships and, in the lower left quadrant, a surveying tool between two censors. Surrounding the map proper on the left, right, and bottom margins, there are 19 maps and images of Biblical objects. The largest and most central of these is a stunning inset of Jerusalem, which notes the various temples and important buildings located there. Other images include the Arc of the Covenant, Israelite coins, Roman antiquities, views of a Menorah, various angels, and a plan of the Temple. All in all an extraordinary piece, one of the most attractive maps of the Holy Land ever made.

Jacobus Tirinus (1580 - 1636) or Jacobi Tirini was a Jesuit monk, theologian, historian, and Biblical scholar. His major work is the Commentarius in Sacram Scripturam a two volume Bible commentary. Tirini was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1580. Following his admission into the Jesuit Order, Tirini became a respected Biblical scholar and a prominent member of the Order. He was assigned First Superior to the Antwerp Jesuit House as well as "Directior of the Holland Mission". Tirini's Biblial commentaries are still referenced today.(Ref: Laor; M&B; Tooley)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy & stable
Paper color: - White
Age of map color: - Early   
Colors used: - Green, blue, yellow, red, orange
General color appearance: - Authentic   
Paper size: -  33 3/4in x 13 3/4in (855mm x 350mm)
Plate size: - 33in x 13in (840mm x 330mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (15mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Top margin extended from plate-mark
Plate area: - Very light creasing in folds.
Verso: - Light soiling

• Title : Lionnois, Forest et Beaviolois
• Ref #:  41649
• Size: 24in x 20in (610mm x 510mm)
• Date : 1631
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description: 
This finely engraved beautifully hand coloured original antique 1st edition map of the Rhône-Alpes region of France - centering on the Rhone River and the cities of Lyon & Macon - was published in the 1631 edition of Mercators Atlas published by Henricus Hondius and Jan Jansson.

Jodocus Hondius (1563 - 1612), one of the most notable engravers of his time, is known for his work in association with many of the cartographers and publishers prominent at the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century. 
In 1604 Hondius bought the plates of Mercator's Atlas which, in spite of its excellence, had not competed successfully with the continuing demand of Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. 
To meet this competition Hondius added about 40 maps to Mercator's original number and from 1606 published enlarged editions in many languages, still under Mercator's name but with his own name as publisher. These atlases have become known as the Mercator/Hondius series. The following year the maps were re-engraved in miniature form and issued as a pocket Atlas Minor. 
After the death of Jodocus Hondius the Elder in 1612, work on the two atlases, folio and miniature, was carried on by his widow and sons, Jodocus II and Henricus, and eventually in conjunction with Jan Jansson in Amsterdam. In all, from 1606 onwards, nearly 50 editions with increasing numbers of maps with texts in the main European languages were printed. (Ref: Koeman; M&B; Tooley)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Green, red, orange, yellow, blue
General color appearance: - Authentic 
Paper size: - 24in x 20in (610mm x 510mm)
Plate size: - 20in x 15in (535mm x 385mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Light spotting not affecting the image
Plate area: - Age toning along centerfold
Verso: - None

• Title : Chorographia Terrae Sanctae in angustiorem Formam Redacta, et ex variis auctoribus a multis errorbus expurgata
• Ref #:  17009
• Size: 40in x 19in (1060m x 395mm)
• Date : 1632
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This large magnificent, hand coloured original copper plate engraved antique map of the Holy Land by Johann Belling & Augustus Vindel was published in Commentarius in Sacram Scripturam (Commentary on the New and Old Testament) by the Belgian Jesuit monk Jacobus Tirinus.
This is without doubt one of the most visually stunning maps of the Holy land ever published and there have been many elaborated & beautiful maps of this important region published since the dark ages, when the Holy Land was considered the geographical center of the world.
This map was originally prepared in 1632 for Tirinus study of the Holy Land and was originally engraved by Cornelius Galle and printed in Antwerp by Martinus Nutius. Tirinuss work went through many editions and printings up until the mid 18th century.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Blue, pink, red, green, yellow
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 40in x 19in (1060m x 395mm)
Plate size: - 32 1/2in x 13in (825mm x 330mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - Folds as issued
Verso: - None

Background:
Oriented to the East the map is surrounded with panels of vignettes displaying sacred objects including a menorah, the arc of the covenant, the altar of sacrifices, the Tabernacle, and a plan and elevations of the Temple. At center is an inset bird\\\'s-eye plan of ancient Jerusalem based on the Spanish biblical geographer, Juan Bautista Vilalpando. Oriented with east at top, the map includes the territories of the twelve tribes on both sides of the Jordan River and the route of the Exodus and Wandering. The map depicts from Syria and Tyre southward as far as the Sinai, Egypt and Thebes. At the southern most point, in Egypt, is located the city of Thebes and, slightly to the north, near Memphis, the wildly misshapen Pyramids of Egypt. Slightly further north is the city of Tanis, possible resting place for the Ark of the Covenant. In this spirit, slightly to the south of Tanis, the city of Ramesse is indicated as the starting point of the Biblical Exodus and the wandering of the Hebrews. Following their path into the desert and across the Red Sea – where Pharaoh is shown being inundated by the returning waters following Moses’ parting of the Red Sea. Now in the Sinai, we can follow the footsteps of the Hebrews to Mount Sinai (Sinai Mons), where Moses is drawn throwing down the tablets of God. Slightly to the northwest of this location a cleft in the mountains reveals the location of the ancient Nabatean city of Petra. With regard to Petra, the location and gorge detail is surprisingly accurate considering that it was only “discovered” by the Swiss adventurer Johannes L. Burckhardt, in 1812, 200 years after this map was drawn. Heading northward the lands claimed by the various tribes of Israel are beautifully detailed along with major cities, camps, roads, and trade routes. The Mediterranean is decorated with sailing ships and, in the lower left quadrant, a surveying tool between two censors. Surrounding the map proper on the left, right, and bottom margins, there are 19 maps and images of Biblical objects. The largest and most central of these is a stunning inset of Jerusalem, which notes the various temples and important buildings located there. Other images include the Arc of the Covenant, Israelite coins, Roman antiquities, views of a Menorah, various angels, and a plan of the Temple. All in all an extraordinary piece, one of the most attractive maps of the Holy Land ever made.

Tirinus, Jacobus 1580 - 1636
Or Jacobi Tirini was a Jesuit monk, theologian, historian, and Biblical scholar. His major work is the Commentarius in Sacram Scripturam a two volume Bible commentary. Tirini was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1580. Following his admission into the Jesuit Order, Tirini became a respected Biblical scholar and a prominent member of the Order. He was assigned First Superior to the Antwerp Jesuit House as well as Directior of the Holland Mission. Tirinis Biblial commentaries are still referenced today.(Ref: Laor; M&B; Tooley)

• Title : Nova Virginiae Tabula
• Date : 1633
• Size: 23in x 18 3/4in (585mm x 475mm)
• Ref #:  70818
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This superb original antique hand coloured map of Chesapeake Bay, Virginia was published in the 1633 edition of Mercators Atlas. 
Although this map bears the name of Henricus Hondius, the plate originated from his brother Joducus II in 1618, after Captain John Smith\'s famous map of 1612, and was published in many editions of Mercators Atlas after 1630. Willem Blaeu also purchased this copper-plate from the Hondius plate stock in 1629 and was published in many future Blaeu atlases.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 23in x 18 3/4in (585mm x 475mm)
Plate size: - 19 3/4in x 15 1/2in (500mm x 395mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - 4 very small worm holes
Verso: - None

Background: 
This is one of the most important seventeenth century maps of the Chesapeake Bay region. The early settlement of Jamestown Iamestowne is noted along with a number of other place names, both in English and Native American. The map was derived from Capt. John Smith's map of 1612 and was the first to depict the bay and its tributaries with any accuracy.
Capt John Smith's fine survey work, as well as reports from indigenous American Indian tribes, and fanciful wishful thinking, combine to make this one of the most interesting maps of America to emerge in the 17th century. Philip D. Burden, the author of The Mapping of America, considers this map, Nova Virginiae Tabula, to be 'one of the most important maps of America ever produced and certainly one of the greatest influence.' Oriented to the west, this map covers from Cape Henry to the Susquehanna River and inland as far as the Appellation Mountains. The Chesapeake Bay is shown in full as are many of its river estuaries, though topographically this map places a number of mountain ranges where there are in fact none.
To fully understand this map one must first realize that most Europeans believed the Pacific, or at least some great bay that led to the Pacific, lay just a few days travel inland. In the minds of most Europeans of the period, the trade potential for the Virginia colony was entirely dependent upon it being a practical access point to the riches of Asia. Thus the significance of large and mysterious body of water appearing in the land of the Massawomecks, in the upper right quadrant, becomes apparent. Of course, much of this land was entirely unexplored by the European settlers in Jamestown, shown here on the Powhatan River (James River), who relied heavily upon American Indian reports for much of their cartographic knowledge of the Virginia hinterlands. The Massawomecks themselves were a rival of the Powhatan and made their home near the headwaters of the Potomac. These, like many other indigenous groups of the region made only a brief and frequently violent appearance during the 17th century before entirely disappearing, mostly from disease and war, in the early 18th century.
In the upper left quadrant there is an image of the American Indian chief of the Powhatan sitting enthroned before a great fire in his long house. One of the more popular legends regarding John Smith was his capture and trial before the chief of the Powahatan. Smith was convinced that his liberation had something to do with the youthful daughter of Chief Powahatan, Pocahontas, taking a liking to him. Although this grew into a fictitious legend of its own, the truth is more likely that Powhatan saw Smith and his Englishmen as potential allies against the rival American Indian groups, such as the Massawomecks, that were pressing hard against his borders.
There are a number of different editions of this map and its publication by various map houses in various states made it the first widely distributed map of the Virginia colony and of John Smith's important map. There was, however, a scandal relating to its publication. The map was originally drawn and engraved in 1618 by Jodocus Hondius based upon the first edition of John Smith's 1612 map. When Jodocus died in 1629, he and his brother, Henricus Hondius, while collaborating on the Hondius Atlas Major, had established and maintained separate business for some 10 years. Jodocus' death enabled the competing cartographer, Willem Blaeu to acquire a large number of Jodocus' map plates, which he promptly published in 1630 as the Atlantis Appendix. Henricus, in the meantime, had been counting on Jodocus' new plates to enhance his own, by then outdated, Hondius Atlas Major. A surviving contract dated March 2, 1630 reveals that Henricus Hondius and his partner Joannes Janssonius hired engravers to produce a number of new map plates copying the work of Jodocus – now in the hands of the Blaeu firm. This map was among the most important of that group and accounts for variants of this map being issued by competing Blaeu and Hondius firms.

The History of Virginia begins with documentation by the first Spanish explorers to reach the area in the 1500s, when it was occupied chiefly by Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Siouan peoples. After a failed English attempt to settle Virginia in the 1580s by Walter Raleigh permanent English settlement began in Virginia with Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. The Virginia Company colony was looking for gold but failed and the colonists could barely feed themselves. The famine during the harsh winter of 1609 forced the colonists to eat leather from their clothes and boots and resort to cannibalism.[1] The colony nearly failed until tobacco emerged as a profitable export. It was grown on plantations, using primarily indentured servants for the intensive hand labor involved. After 1662, the colony turned black slavery into a hereditary racial caste. By 1750, the primary cultivators of the cash crop were West African slaves. While the plantations thrived because of the high demand for tobacco, most white settlers raised their families on subsistence farms. Warfare with the Virginia Indian nations had been a factor in the 17th century; after 1700 there was continued conflict with natives east of the Alleghenies, especially in the French and Indian War (1754-1763), when the tribes were allied with the French. The westernmost counties including Wise and Washington only became safe with the death of Bob Benge in 1794.
The Virginia Colony became the wealthiest and most populated British colony in North America, with an elected General Assembly. The colony was dominated by rich planters who were also in control of the established Anglican Church. Baptistand Methodist preachers brought the Great Awakening, welcoming black members and leading to many evangelical and racially integrated churches. Virginia planters had a major role in gaining independence and in the development of democratic-republican ideals of the United States. They were important in the Declaration of Independence, writing the Constitutional Convention (and preserving protection for the slave trade), and establishing the Bill of Rights. The state of Kentuckyseparated from Virginia in 1792. Four of the first five presidents were Virginians: George Washington, the "Father of his country"; and after 1800, "The Virginia Dynasty" of presidents for 24 years: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe.

• Title : Poictou Pictaviensis Comitatus...Jodocus Hondius
• Ref #:  41644
• Size: 22 1/4in x 18 1/2in (570mm x 470mm)
• Date : 1636
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition

Description:
This beautifully hand coloured original copper-plate engraved antique map of the Poitou region of SW France centering on the cities of Nantes and Rochelle was published in the rare 1636 English edition of Gerard Mercators Atlas, published later by Henricus Hondius and Jan Jansson.
As there were so few of these atlases published with English text on the verso that maps from them are now understandably scarce.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 22 1/4in x 18 1/2in (570mm x 470mm)
Plate size: - 19 1/2in x 15in (500mm x 380mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Centrefold re-joined with light uplift
Plate area: - Centrefold re-joined with light uplift, light creasing
Verso: - Light creasing, small repair bottom left not affecting the image

Background: 
Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. The main historical cities are Poitiers Châtellerault (France\'s kings establishment in Poitou), Niort, La Roche-sur-Yon, Thouars, and Parthenay.
The region of Poitou was called Thifalia (or Theiphalia) in the sixth century.
There is a marshland called the Poitevin Marsh (French Marais Poitevin) on the Gulf of Poitou, on the west coast of France, just north of La Rochelle and west of Niort.
By the Treaty of Paris of 1259, King Henry III of England recognized his loss of continental Plantaganet territory to France (including Normandy, Maine, Anjou, and Poitou).
During the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries Poitou was a hotbed of Huguenot (French Calvinist) activity among the nobility and bourgeoisie and was severely affected by the French Wars of Religion (1562–1598).
Many of the Acadians who settled in what is now Nova Scotia beginning in 1604, and later in New Brunswick, came from the region of Poitou. After the Acadians were deported by the British beginning in 1755, some of them eventually took refuge in Québec. A large portion of these refugees were also deported to Louisiana in 1785 and eventually became known as Cajuns (from Acadians).
After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, a strong Counter-Reformation effort was made by the French Roman Catholic Church; in 1793, this was partially responsible for the three-year-long open revolt against the French Revolutionary Government in the Bas-Poitou (Département of Vendée). Indeed, during Napoleon’s Hundred Days in 1815, the Vendée stayed loyal to the Restoration Monarchy of King Louis XVIII and Napoleon dispatched 10,000 troops under General Lamarque to pacify the region.
As noted by Lampert, The persistent Huguenots of 17th Century Poitou and the fiercely Catholic rebellious Royalists of what came be the Vendée of the late 18th Century had ideologies very different, indeed diametrically opposed to each other. The common thread connecting both phenomena is a continuing assertion of a local identity and opposition to the central government in Paris, whatever its composition and identity. (...) In the region where Louis XIII and Louis XIV had encountered stiff resistance, the House of Bourbon gained loyal and militant supporters exactly when it had been overthrown and when a Bourbon loyalty came to imply a local loyalty in opposition to the new central government, that of Robespierre

• Title : Nova Helvetiae Tabula
• Date : 1636
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
• Ref:  41664
• Size: 22in x 18in (560mm x 460mm)

Description:
This fine beautifully hand coloured original antique map of Switzerland was published in the rare 1636 English edition of Mercator's Atlas published by Henricus Hondius and Jan Jansson.
As there were so few of these atlases published in English that maps from them are now understandably scarce.

The text running for two pages on the back of the map generally describes the region or country name, history (as it was), temperature, seasons, soil and agricultural productivity. Also described is the topography, wildlife, local inhabitants their culture and religion, as well as a description of major European and local towns and cities. This text makes extremely enjoyable reading and a very good insight not only into the area described but the general European attitudes towards alien countries and cultures.
The text running for two pages on the back of the map generally describes the region or country name, history (as it was), temperature, seasons, soil and agricultural productivity. Also described is the topography, wildlife, local inhabitants their culture and religion, as well as a description of major European and local towns and cities. This text makes extremely enjoyable reading and a very good insight not only into the area described but the general European attitudes towards alien countries and cultures. (Ref: Koeman; M&B; Tooley)

Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Yellow, pink, green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 22in x 18in (560mm x 460mm)
Plate size: - 19in x 14 1/2in (485mm x 370mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Light age toning
Plate area: - Bottom centerfold re-joined, no loss
Verso: - None

• Title : Namurcum Comitatus 1632
• Date : 1636
• Size: 22in x 18in (570mm x 470mm)
• Ref #:  41622
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition

Description: 
This beautifully hand coloured original antique map of the Belgium region of Namur - centering on the cities of Namur, Huy, Dinant and the Meuse River - was engraved in 1632 by Henricus Hondius - dated - and was published in the rare 1636 English edition of Mercator's Atlas, by Henricus Hondius and Jan Jansson.
As there were so few of these atlases published with English text on the verso that maps from them are now understandably scarce.

Background: Namur is a province of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders (clockwise from the West) on the Walloon provinces of Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Liège and Luxembourg in Belgium, and on France. Its capital is the city of Namur.

The text running for two pages on the verso of this map describes the region or country name, history (as it was), temperature, seasons, soil and agricultural productivity. Also described is the topography, wildlife, local inhabitants their culture and religion, as well as a description of major European and local towns and cities. This text makes extremely enjoyable reading and a very good insight not only into the area described but the general European attitudes towards alien countries and cultures. (Ref: Koeman; M&B; Tooley)

Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, pink, green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 22in x 18in (570mm x 470mm)
Plate size: - 19 1/2in x 15in (500mm x 380mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Left margin repaired
Plate area: - Centrefold re-joined with small loss to bottom border
Verso: - Centerfold re-joined, colour bleed through.

• Title : Zurichgow et Basiliensis Provincia
• Ref #:  41665
• Size: 22in x 18 1/2in (560mm x 470mm)
• Date : 1636
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description: 
This beautifully hand coloured original antique map* of the northern Cantons of Zurich & Basel, Switzerland was published in the rare 1636 English edition of Mercator's Atlas, by Henricus Hondius and Jan Jansson.
The map encompasses an area along the Rhine River north from Basel, south to Zurich & Lake Zurich, east into western Austria and as far west to the city of Solothurn. 
As there were so few of these atlases published with English text on the verso,  maps from them are now understandably scarce.

The text running for two pages on the verso of this map describes the region or country name, history (as it was), temperature, seasons, soil and agricultural productivity. Also described is the topography, wildlife, local inhabitants their culture and religion, as well as a description of major European and local towns and cities. This text makes extremely enjoyable reading and a very good insight not only into the area described but the general European attitudes towards alien countries and cultures.

Jodocus Hondius (1563 - 1612), one of the most notable engravers of his time, is known for his work in association with many of the cartographers and publishers prominent at the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century. 
In 1604 Hondius bought the plates of Mercator's Atlas which, in spite of its excellence, had not competed successfully with the continuing demand of Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. 
To meet this competition Hondius added about 40 maps to Mercator's original number and from 1606 published enlarged editions in many languages, still under Mercator's name but with his own name as publisher. These atlases have become known as the Mercator/Hondius series. The following year the maps were re-engraved in miniature form and issued as a pocket Atlas Minor. 
After the death of Jodocus Hondius the Elder in 1612, work on the two atlases, folio and miniature, was carried on by his widow and sons, Jodocus II and Henricus, and eventually in conjunction with Jan Jansson in Amsterdam. In all, from 1606 onwards, nearly 50 editions with increasing numbers of maps with texts in the main European languages were printed. (Ref: Koeman; M&B; Tooley)

Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, pink, green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 22in x 18 1/2in (560mm x 470mm)
Plate size: - 18 1/2in x 14in (470mm x 355mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Uniform age toning
Plate area: - Uniform age toning, light uplift along centerfold
Verso: - Bottom centerfold re-joined, no loss

• Title : Cornubia sive Cornwallia
• Date : 1637
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition
• Ref:  50606
• Size: 22in x 18 1/2in (560mm x 470mm)

Description: 
This beautifully hand coloured original antique map of English county of Cornwall was published in the 1637 German edition of Joan Blaeu's Atlas Novus. 

Background: Blaeu is one of the most revered map makers of all time and it is easy to see why in this beautiful original map. 
The high level of the topographical detail, the quality of the paper, the artistic professionalism of the engraving and the beauty of the original hand colouring combine to produce a work of art that is both functional and of exceptional beauty. (Ref: Koeman; M&B) 

Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, pink, red, blue, green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 22in x 18 1/2in (560mm x 470mm)
Plate size: - 19 3/4in x 15 3/4in (500mm x 400mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Light spotting
Plate area: - Light spotting & browning
Verso: - Light spotting & browning

• Title : Fezzae et Marocchi Regna Africae Celeberrima
• Date : 1638
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
• Ref:  92950
• Size: 23 1/2in x 19 1/2in (600mm x 495mm)

Description: 
This fine large beautifully hand coloured original antique map of Morocco & the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean was published by Jan Jansson in the 1638 Latin edition of Atlas Novus. 

Background: Being part of the Mediterranean world, the northern coasts of the African continent as far as the Straits of Gibraltar and even round to the area of the Fortunate Isles (the Canaries) were reasonably well known and quite accurately mapped from ancient times. In particular, Egypt and the Nile Valley were well defined and the Nile itself was, of course, one of the rivers separating the continents in medieval T-O maps. Through Arab traders the shape of the east coast, down the Red Sea as far as the equator, was also known but detail shown in the interior faded into deserts with occasional mountain ranges and mythical rivers. The southern part of the continent, in the Ptolemaic tradition, was assumed to curve to the east to form a land-locked Indian Ocean. The voyages of the Portuguese, organized by Henry the Navigator in the fifteenth century, completely changed the picture and by the end of the century Vasco da Gama had rounded the Cape enabling cartographers to draw a quite presentable coastal outline of the whole continent, even if the interior was to remain largely unknown for the next two or three centuries.

The first separately printed map of Africa (as with the other known continents) appeared in Munster's Geographia from 1540 onwards and the first atlas devoted to Africa only was published in 1588 in Venice by Livio Sanuto, but the finest individual map of the century was that engraved on 8 sheets by Gastaldi, published in Venice in 1564. Apart from maps in sixteenth-century atlases generally there were also magnificent marine maps of 1596 by Jan van Linschoten (engraved by van Langrens) of the southern half of the continent with highly imaginative and decorative detail in the interior. In the next century there were many attractive maps including those of Mercator/Hondius (1606), Speed (1627), Blaeu (1 630), Visscher (1636), de Wit (c. 1670), all embellished with vignettes of harbours and principal towns and bordered with elaborate and colourful figures of their inhabitants, but the interior remained uncharted with the exception of that part of the continent known as Ethiopia, the name which was applied to a wide area including present-day Abyssinia. Here the legends of Prester John lingered on and, as so often happened in other remote parts of the world, the only certain knowledge of the region was provided by Jesuit missionaries. Among these was Father Geronimo Lobo (1595-1678), whose work A Voyage to Abyssinia was used as the basis for a remarkably accurate map published by a German scholar, Hiob Ludolf in 1683. Despite the formidable problems which faced them, the French cartographers G. Delisle (c. 1700-22), J. B. B. d'Anville (1727-49) and N. Bellin (1754) greatly improved the standards of mapping of the continent, improvements which were usually, although not always, maintained by Homann, Seutter, de Ia Rochette, Bowen, Faden and many others in the later years of the century. (Ref: Tooley; M&B)

 General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original & later
Colors used: - Green, red, orange, yellow, blue
General color appearance: - Authentic  
Paper size: - 23 1/2in x 19 1/2in (600mm x 495mm)
Plate size: - 20in x 15 1/2in (510mm x 395mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Light soiling in left margin, reapir to top and bottom margin not affecting the image
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None

• Title : Turcicum Imperium
• Ref #:  61009
• Size: 22 1/2in x 19in (570mm x 485mm)
• Date : 1638
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition

Description: 
This beautiful, old original antique map* of The Turkish Empire in Europe, Africa & Asia centering on Saudi Arabia by Jan Jansson was published in the 1638 Latin edition for  Mercator's Atlas by both Henricus Hondius and Jan Jansson.

Background: This is the standard 17th century view of the Turkish Empire, including the Balkans in south-eastern Europe, the North African littoral, the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula in addition to the area of Modern Turkey & Persia.
Much of the place name information on this map is derived from the maps published in 1561 by the Italian mapmaker, Giacomo Gastaldi, whose maps exercised great influence over later European mapmakers, throughout the 17th century.
Formidable though the barrier presented by the Turkish Empire in the Near East was, by the early years of the 17th century it was beginning to show signs of decadence and weakness, especially after the defeat of the Turkish navy at the hands of the combined Christian forces of Western Europe at the battle of Lepanto in 1571, from which Turkish naval power never fully recovered. 
Centered on the palace of the Sultans at Constantinople, the administration of the empire was passed down through local rulers, the Beys, Deys and Pashas, who never lost an opportunity to enrich themselves and to develop often considerable powers of their own.
Further defeats of the Turks occurred in 1669 when Candia (Crete) was taken by the Venetians, and in 1683 when they suffered a humiliating defeat outside Wien (Vienna) at the north-western extremity of European Turkey. (Ref: Suraz; Koeman; M&B; Tooley)

Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Early & Later
Colors used: - Yellow, pink, green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 22 1/2in x 19in (570mm x 485mm)
Plate size: - 21in x 16 1/2in (530mm x 420mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Several small repairs to margins, no loss
Plate area: - Centerfold re-joined light uplift along centerfold, light age toning
Verso: - Repairs as noted

• Title : Freti Magellanici ac novi Freti vulgo Le Maire exactissima delinatio..
• Date : 1639
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
• Ref:  43137
• Size: 22in x 18in (560mm x 470mm)

Description: 
This finely engraved beautifully hand coloured original antique map of Straits of Magellan, Le Maire Strait, Fire Lands and the southern tip of Patagonia was published in the 1639 French edition of Mercators Atlas by Jan Jansson and Henricus Hondius.

These maps, published in the later editions of Mercators atlas, are derived from the original maps drawn and engraved by Gerald Mercator in the mid to late 16th century, published by his son Rumold as an atlas, after his death, in 1595. After two editions the plates were purchased by Jodocus Hondius in 1604 andcontinued to be published until the mid 1630's when the plates were re-engraved and updated by Jan Jansson and Henricus Hondius.

Early impression of this fine map of Tierra del Fuego. With a Dutch translation of the explanatory text of the passage by Barent Jansz. Potgieter who accompanied captain Sebald de Weert to the Straits in 1599/1600, being the first Dutch vessels to sail through the Strait of Magellan.
After various English voyages, the Dutch appeared in the Strait of Magellan in 1599. One of the Dutch pioneering voyages to the Southwest was the one by Jacques Mahu and Simon de Cordes, who were sent out by Rotterdam merchants.
The five ships of this fleet were the first Dutch vessels to sail through the Strait of Magellan. One of them, the De Liefde, completed the crossing of the Pacific, reached Japan and laid the foundations for Dutch trade. (Ref: Tooley, Koeman)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Green, pink, yellow, blue
General color appearance: - Authentic 
Paper size: - 22in x 18in (560mm x 470mm)
Plate size: - 19 1/2in x 15 1/2in (490mm x 390mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - Light creasing
Verso: - Bottom centerfold re-joined, no loss

• Title : Magni Mogolis Imperium
• Date : 1639
• Size: 23in x 19in (585mm x 485mm)
• Ref #:  43148
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description: 
This fine, beautifully hand coloured original  antique and very important map of Mughal Empire of Northern India, Tibet, Nepal and central Asia by Henricus Hondius was published in the 1639 French edition of Gerardi Mercators Atlantis Novi Atlas.

Background: This map centers on the Mughal capital of Agra, with the map covering, roughly, from Kabul to Orissa and Deccan, and from Persia to Bengal. It depicts the empire prior to the conquest of Orissa and Deccan, most likely during the reign of Shah Jahan, of Taj Mahal fame. Relief is shown pictorially. An elaborate title cartouche appears in the upper left quadrant. The map is embellished with images of tigers, elephants, caravans, and galleons.
There is much of interest. In particular, is the map detailed breakdown of the caravan network between Gujarat and Agra, between Agra and the desert outpost of Jaisalmer, and between Agra and the Silk Road center of Kabul. While the map does not show roads, for surely none as such existed at the time, it does show the network of towns, waystations and caravanserai built to support the bustling trade system.
The apocryphal Lake of Chiamay appears just north of the Bay of Bengal as the source of four important Southeast Asian river systems including the Irrawaddy, the Dharla, the Chao Phraya, and the Brahmaputra. The curious Lake of Chiamay (also called Chiam-may or Chian-may), roughly located in the area of Assam but sometimes as far north as Tibet and China, began to appear in maps of this region as early as the 16th century and persisted well into the mid 18th century. Its origins are unknown but may originate in a lost 16th century geography prepared by the Portuguese scholar Jao de Barros. It was speculated to be the source of five important Southeast Asian River systems and was mentioned in the journals of Sven Hedin. There are even records that the King of Siam led an invasionary force to take control of the lake in the 16th century. Nonetheless, the theory of Lake Chiamay was ultimately disproved and it disappeared from maps entirely by the 1760s.
There are two states of this map, the present example being the first state, first issued in 1638 by Henricus Hondius, and the second state a few years later in 1641 by Jan Jannson. With the exception of the signature imprint, the plates are identical.  (Ref: Koeman; M&B)

Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy & stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, pink, green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 23in x 19in (585mm x 485mm)
Plate size: - 19 3/4in x 14 1/2in (500mm x 350mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Bottom centerfold re-joined.
Plate area: - Light colour offset
Verso: - Bottom centerfold re-joined

• Title : Principatus Hennenbergensis
• Ref #:  23433
• Size: 23in x 19in (585mm x 485mm)
• Date : 1639
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This beautifully hand coloured original antique  map of the Henneberg county in the Thuringia region of Southern Germany - centering on the cities of Henneberg andMeiningen was published in the 1639 French edition of  Mercators Atlas published by Henricus Hondius and Jan Jansson. (Ref: Koeman; Tooley; M&B)

Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Early 
Colors used: - Yellow, pink, green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 23in x 19in (585mm x 485mm)
Plate size: - 19 1/2in x 15in (495mm x 380mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

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

• Title : Hungaria Regnum
• Ref #: 43153
• Size: 22 3/4in x 19in (575mm x 485mm)
• Date : 1639
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition

Description: 
This large hand coloured original antique map of Hungary - centering on the city of Budapest, south to Bosnia east to Transylvania and west to Austria - by Jan Jansson  was published in the 1639 French edition of Mercator's Atlas published by Henricus Hondius and Jan Jansson. (Ref: Koeman; M&B; Tooley)

Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Later
Colors used: - Yellow, pink, green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 22 3/4in x 19in (575mm x 485mm)
Plate size: - 20 1/2in x 17in (520mm x 430mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Uniform age toning, bottom margin centerfold & border re-joined
Plate area: - Uniform age toning, centerfold re-joined, creasing along centerfold
Verso: - Uniform age toning

• Title : Magni Mogolis Imperium
• Date : 1639
• Size: 24in x 20in (610mm x 510mm)
• Ref #:  70711
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description: 
This fine, beautifully hand coloured original antique and very important map of Mughal Empire of Northern India, Tibet, Nepal and central Asia by Jan Jansson was published in the 1639 French edition of Gerard Mercators Atlantis Novi Atlas.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 24in x 20in (610mm x 510mm)
Plate size: - 19 1/2in x 14 1/2in (495mm x 370mm)
Margins: - Min 2in (50mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Light age toning
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None

Background: 
This map centers on the Mughal capital of Agra, with the map covering, roughly, from Kabul to Orissa and Deccan, and from Persia to Bengal. It depicts the empire prior to the conquest of Orissa and Deccan, most likely during the reign of Shah Jahan, of Taj Mahal fame. Relief is shown pictorially. An elaborate title cartouche appears in the upper left quadrant. The map is embellished with images of tigers, elephants, caravans, and galleons. 
There is much of interest. In particular, is the map detailed breakdown of the caravan network between Gujarat and Agra, between Agra and the desert outpost of Jaisalmer, and between Agra and the Silk Road center of Kabul. While the map does not show roads, for surely none as such existed at the time, it does show the network of towns, waystations and caravanserai built to support the bustling trade system. 
The apocryphal Lake of Chiamay appears just north of the Bay of Bengal as the source of four important Southeast Asian river systems including the Irrawaddy, the Dharla, the Chao Phraya, and the Brahmaputra. The curious Lake of Chiamay (also called Chiam-may or Chian-may), roughly located in the area of Assam but sometimes as far north as Tibet and China, began to appear in maps of this region as early as the 16th century and persisted well into the mid 18th century. Its origins are unknown but may originate in a lost 16th century geography prepared by the Portuguese scholar Jao de Barros. It was speculated to be the source of five important Southeast Asian River systems and was mentioned in the journals of Sven Hedin. There are even records that the King of Siam led an invasionary force to take control of the lake in the 16th century. Nonetheless, the theory of Lake Chiamay was ultimately disproved and it disappeared from maps entirely by the 1760s. 
There are two states of this map, the present example being the first state, first issued in 1638 by Henricus Hondius, and the second state a few years later in 1641 by Jan Jannson. With the exception of the signature imprint, the plates are identical.  (Ref: Koeman; M&B)

• Title : Venezuela, cum Parte Australi Novae Andalusiae
• Date : 1639
• Size: 24in x 20in (610mm x 510mm)
• Ref #:  70710
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description: 
This beautifully hand coloured original antique map of what is today modern Venezuela, northern South America was published in the 1639 French Edition of Mercator's Atlas by Mercators successors Jan Jansson & Henricus Hondius.
This map is in stunning condition on bright heavy stable paper. with original margins and beautiful original colour.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 24in x 20in (610mm x 510mm)
Plate size: - 19 1/2in x 15in (495mm x 385mm)
Margins: - Min 2in (50mm)

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

Background: 
This map, showing the area of modern Venezuela to the north of the Orinoco valley is another of the early group of maps added to Mercators atlas by Jansson and Hondius, after Joan Blaeus map of the 1630's. It extends from Lago de Maracaibo in the west to the Island of Trinidad in the east and also shows the Dutch held is lands of Curacao, Aruba and Bonaire which served as the base of the Geotroyeerde West Indische Compahnie or Netherlands West Indian Company, since 1634. 
Of the three great rivers of South America, the Orinoco was, and remains, the most difficult to navigate. It was the last to yield any of its secrets even though, on his third voyage in 1498, Columbus had noted the strong currents of fresh water from the Orinoco and believed himself to be at the mouth of one of the four rivers of Paradise>
Throughout the sixteenth century, attempts were made to search for the legendary kingdom of El Dorado, but it was not until the three Orinoco voyages of Antonio de Berrio between 1584 and 1591, all starting out from bases in Nueva Granada, that any useful knowledge of the interior was gathered. Berrio never found El Dorado, but he made several discoveries of the river valleys of the interior. By a curious twist of fate, Berrio, whilst waiting in Trinidad for further orders from Spain, was captured by Sir Walter Raleigh, to whom he divulged his knowledge of the region, as well as a great deal of intended misinformation

• Title : Karstia, Carniola, Histria et Windorum Marchia
• Ref #:  43152
• Size: 21 1/2in x 18 1/2in (550mm x 470mm)
• Date : 1639
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This beautifully hand coloured original antique map of northern Adriatic Sea and the Gulf of Venice centered on Istria, showing present-day north-eastern Italy, a large part of Slovenia and northern Croatia - extending from Venice to the Island of Arbe and from Doblach to Pettau on the Dravus River - engraved by Gerard Mercator, was published by 1639 French edition of Mercators Atlas by Jan Jansson and Henricus Hondius.

These maps, published in the later editions of Mercators atlas, are derived from the original maps drawn and engraved by Gerald Mercator in the mid to late 16th century, published by his son Rumold as an atlas, after his death, in 1595. After two editions the plates were purchased by Jodocus Hondius in 1604 and continued to be published until the mid 1630's when the plates were re-engraved and updated by Jan Jansson and Henricus Hondius.

Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy & stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, pink, green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 21 1/2in x 18 1/2in (550mm x 470mm)
Plate size: - 18 1/2in x 14 1/2in (470mm x 350mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Bottom left margin corner repaired, no affect on image
Plate area: - Creasing along centerfold
Verso: - None