The past month has been very busy around here!
Lots among the wide range of material we've recently acquired includes some of the earliest 1860 maps by S.A. Mitchell printed for the very scarce first edition of his significant New General Atlas. These are distinguished in part by the dark, richly printed decorative borders as well as the strong bold colors. They are seminal maps for the many various editions which follow them. If one seeks to acquire a run of variant Mitchell maps of any given state, these earliest first issue ones will be more difficult to acquire than some of the later ones printed in far larger numbers.
We've also acquired dozens of various individual 19th century U.S. state & city maps, including some very detailed oversized folio sheet transitional western ones printed in 1889 for a very scarce Bradley atlas, some very large urban plans, etc. These include some fascinating 1877 O.W. Gray state maps and city plans which are interesting both for their transitional nature as well as their scarcity.
Also soon to be listed are numerous mid-19th century U.S. Government nautical charts of all the coastlines from Maine to Florida, south to Texas and then the West coast up to Washington Territory, various early state survey maps as well as some monumental oversized mid-19th century maps of western states (such as California) and the entire country. These include boundary survey maps, Government maps, etc.
Earlier cartographic material includes a large pile of over 100 charming miniature maps of 17th and 18th century including many visually superior examples by makers including Blaeu, de Lat, Moll, Cluverius, Sanson, Mallet, Bellin, Kitchin, Jefferys, Bowen, Russell, Cary, Doolittle, etc.
Five excellent early Dutch coastal charts relating to 18th century China have just been listed as well as a series of large detailed 1877 Maine coast maps printed on special onion skin paper with splendid hand color. A good number of scarce early 18th century Gravius maps of Holland regions are also new to our inventory, the list goes on.
We've also added a number of excellent reference books to our always growing collection, including the seminal and well written Landmark Thematic Maps by John Delaney. This book is a pleasure to read and highly recommended. Great illustrations throughout, insightful commentary and a fresh perspective lift the book up into the realm of required reading.
Other cartobibliographies which are new to our holdings include Perry & Prescott's Guide to Maps of Australia Published 1780-1830, Law's The Printed Maps of Ireland 1612-1850, Schecter's George Washington's America- A Biography through his Maps, Marc Hameleer's unbelievable 2 vol. set- Kaarten van Amsterdam (a comprehensive and well illustrated delineation of all known city plans, all identified in detail, with a chronology of diff. states, close-ups, etc.) and the monumental five volume set by Howgego- Encyclopedia of Exploration. Can't wait to get through this one, only roughly a million words or so...
Although none of these books are "new" to the market, all are either somewhat elusive, little known or fairly expensive and until now were simply not in our possession. It takes time to build a physical library and despite having literally hundreds of cartographic references, we don't have them all.
By the way, if you don't have a copy yet of the Griggs's recent Collecting Old Maps it should be the next book on your list! No matter what level of collector or dealer you consider yourself, this book is pure eye candy, spectacularly well written and has an extensive bibliography at the rear which helps identify your next carto-bibliographic acquisitions. This book is a must and an endless source of interesting and pleasant reading.
We hope you find something you like, hundreds of items have been added to our online inventory since our last email.
Let us hear from you soon!
Brian, Meredith, Jim & Tim (Ric is in Vegas, Larry in Columbus and Aaron in Concord).
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