Maps

A pre-press version of a key map of colonial America emerged for sale at Swann Auction Galleries in New York on June 6. Carrying an estimate of $30,000-50,000, it sold at $100,000/£76,900 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) – a sum that reflected its extraordinary provenance.

Over in Kensington Gore’s Royal Geographical Society, The London Map Fair includes an astronomical highlight to mark the 50th anniversary of the first moonwalk. The map, signed and inscribed by Buzz Aldrin, shows the lunar landing site, and is offered by The Map House for £7500.

Successfully bid to £80,000 among cartographic lots offered in London was a fine coloured copy of Ortelius’ Theatrum… of 1592.

For the first time this year, the four fairs that make London a destination for bibliophiles in June will be held side-by-side across the space of just four days. ATG looks at the personality of each event.

Just being old is no longer enough. True, most of the collectable maps that change hands in the market are of some considerable age. Many were printed by hand using techniques which changed little between the 1470s and 1830s. Tim Bryars reports...

A selection of highlights appearing at upcoming auctions.

A selection of highlights that dealers are taking to upcoming fairs.

A large oil on panel map by MacDonald Gill celebrating the presence of stationer WH Smith on the British high street in the 1920s was hammered down at £50,000 in Gloucestershire.

A very rare panorama of 17th century London depicting the city skyline in the wake of the Great Fire of 1666 has sold at auction for £90,000.

Map dealer Jim Dickinson next stands at Art Antiques Cheshire (February 22-24)

A 1627, Ulm first of Johannes Kepler’s 'Tabulae Rudolphinae…', an important astronomical work named in honour of the then Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, sold for SKr350,000 (£30,535) on December 7.

A rare 11th century Portolan chart on vellum will be offered by the Il Ponte auction house in a sale of books and manuscripts in Milan on January 22.

Founder remembered as anniversary sale sheds light on evolution of the Narnia Chronicles

In a major cooperative move, next summer’s series of London book and map fairs has been aligned to run in the same four-day stretch.

Kim Jeffery, who with husband George runs Etc Fairs, described by one exhibitor as “the Stock Exchange of bookselling”, is upbeat about her upcoming book fair in Bloomsbury.

A list of the events taking place at this year's 'Rare Books London'.

As we approach the second anniversary of our inaugural 2016 auction, we are again delighted to be the sponsors of Antique Trade Gazette’s ‘Books, Maps & Prints’ supplement.

In a journey starting with the Great Fire and taking in the 1980s, dealer Tim Bryars explores the collecting market for London maps