Our reference books are divided into General, America, and Africa.

GENERAL

Hakluytus posthumus: Or, Purchas his Pilgrimes: contayning a history of the world in sea voyages and lande travells by Englishmen and others. Purchas, Samuel.  New York: AMS Press, 1965.  This is a facsimile edition of one of the great sets of books in the English language dealing with voyages and travels.  It is a diverse and important world-wide collection of voyages covering medieval travelers such as Marco Polo to early 17th century explorers in Asia, Russia, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, etc.  This is a monumental work.  The books were originally published in London in 1625-26. The volumes are illustrated throughout with facsimile maps, some folding. 19 (of 20) volumes are present, lacks volume 18.  8vo, red cloth (lettering on spines somewhat sunned).  All pages are generally crisp and clean. Very nice copy.   Book #H-18.  $750.

The Mapping of the World: Early Printed World Maps 1472-1700.  Shirley, Rodney W. London:  New Holland Publishers Ltd., 1993.  Cloth with illustrated dust jacket.  669 pp., Introduction, 639 world map entries with illustrations. Appendices.  The standard and essential reference work on antique world maps, including works by Ortelius, Mercator, Hondius, Blaeu, DeWit, Visscher, Speed, Coronelli, and many others.  "The" ultimate book on world maps.  Every collector should have this book. Like New. Book #W-01. SOLD.

Francesco Berlinghieri: Geographia. Florence 1482, with an introduction by R. A. Skelton. Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1966.  Cloth, dj, folio. xiii followed by unpaginated facsimile, which includes many map plates of the known world.  A facsimile reprint of the Florence 1482 edition of Claudius Ptolemy’s Geographia.  From the famous series of atlases and books in facsimile, third series, volume IV.  Book near fine, with d/j near fine.  Book #G-37. $350.

Decorative Printed Maps from the 15th - 18th Centuries.  Skelton, R.A.  London: Staples Press, 1952.  First edition.  Hardcover, vii + 80 pp., and 84 map reproductions, some in color.  This illustrated book provides a survey of maps printed from copper plates or wood blocks from the 15th to the 18th centuries. The introduction describes the techniques used for engraving and printing maps in this early era including how maps were colored. Boards generally good with sunning/fading to the spine. but otherwise book is very sound.  Book #G-17.  $70.

History of World Exploration (The Royal Geographical Society).  Keay, John (general editor).  New York:  Mallard Press, 1991.  Hardcover with dust jacket. 320 pp. with photos, numerous maps and other illustrations, many in color and many from the archives of the Royal Geographical Society.  Covers early exploration, chief explorers, and expeditions on all continents.  Written by a team of eleven authors, each an acknowledged expert. Contains specially commissioned maps showing all the principal exploration routes, many traced from first-hand accounts.   Fine hardcover with good clean insides, d/j near fine with mylar cover.  Book #H-02.  $25.

New Found Lands Maps in the History of Exploration.  Whitfield, Peter.  London: The British Library, 1998.  First Edition.  Cloth with illustrated dust jacket.  viii + 200 pp. 100 color and 50 black and white maps and other illustrations.  The book focuses on numerous explorers and their understanding of the discoveries they made.  Like new.  Book #G-28. $35.    

Cartographical Innovations : An International Handbook of Mapping Terms to 1900.  Wallis, Helen M. and Arthur H. Robinson (editors).  England: Map Collector Publications Ltd. and International Cartographic Association, 1987.  Cloth with gilt titles and illustrated dust jacket.  xx + 353 pp. 25 illustrations.  This book is designed as a history of cartographical innovations and descriptions of virtually all mapping terms.   Book Very Fine with near fine d/j.  Book #G-36.  $150.

Discovering Antique Maps.  Hodgkiss, Alan G.  U.K.:  Shire Publications Ltd., 1975. Softbound.  120 pp., with some map illustration.  A useful introduction and overview to collecting antique maps.  Very Good.  Book #G-13.  $10.

Mapping the World: Maps and Their History.  Harris, Nathaniel.  San Diego, CA: Thunder Bay Press, 2002.  Cloth with illustrated dust jacket.  304 pp., with numerous maps and other illustrations, many in color.  This book covers the history of mapping from an ancient Babylonian world map to modern astronomers charting the far reaches of the Universe.  Of special note are descriptions and images of numerous important maps from the medieval period, and the Ages of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.  Fine.   Book #G-78.  $25.

An Encyclopedia of World History Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged.  Langer, William L. (ed.).  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1948.  2nd Revised Edition.  Cloth. 8vo; xivi + 1270 pp.; 55 maps.  A detailed chronology of world history.  Fair with near separation to boards and wrinkling of back board. Contents clean with owner stamps to front end sheet. This is a working copy. Book #H-01. $8.

Country Life Book of Antique Maps: An Introduction to the History of Maps and How to Appreciate Them. Potter, Jonathan.  United Kingdom: Country Life Books, 1988. First Edition.  Cloth with illustrated dust jacket. 192 pp, including bibliography and index.  A thorough introduction to the history of antique maps and how to collect and enjoy them, written by one of the world’s leading antique map dealers.  Text divided into three sections: Looking at Maps; Mapping the World and Its Countries; Globes, Curiosities and Miniatures. Book is clean, bright and unmarked.  Book #G-68. $40.  

Antique Maps: Christie’s Collectors Guides.  Moreland, Carl, and David Bannister. Oxford: Phaidon-Christie"s Ltd., 1986.  Hardcover with gilt lettering on spine, with dust jacket.  314 pp.; 168 illustrations with 8 in full color.  The book is divided into three sections: Map Making, Map Makers, Map Collecting. Covers maps and mapmakers (nearly 600) between 1450 and 1850.  An excellent reference for any map collector.  Near fine with owners stamp on end paper. D/J clipped at inside edge.  Book #G-25.  SOLD.

Shape of the World.  Berthon Simon and Andrew Robinson.  London: George Philip, 1991. Cloth with dust jacket; 4to: over 9.75” x 11" high. 192 pp; with numerous color maps and other illustrations.  This is a history of mapmaking and scientific invention drawn from many ages and countries, from the first crude maps to the pictures of Apollo 8 in 1968.  Fine book in fine dust jacket. Book #H-14. $25.

Early Sea Charts.  Putman, Robert.  New York: Abbeville Press, 1983. Cloth with illustrated dust jacket.  12 x 15" high, 143 pp.; 60 full color maps.  Superb reproductions and discussion of charts and maps spanning five centuries of the golden age of illuminated cartography by a leading Dutch authority on sea charts.  Fine book with near fine d/j.  Book #W-02. $40.  

The Charting of the Oceans: Ten Centuries of Maritime Maps.  Whitfield, Peter.  Rohnert Park CA: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1996.  First US edition.   Blue cloth with illustrated dust jacket, square 4to, 136 pp., pictorial endpapers, Numerous maps are produced in full color.  The author describes ten centuries of maritime maps in which the European nations left a unique visual record of their explorations of the seas.  The book also explores ancient navigation, the Middle Ages and the Age of Discovery, the printed sea chart from 1600-1800, and the modern sea chart.  Published in association with the British Library.  Fine, near new.  Book #G-79.  $30.

General Cartography. Raisz Erwin. London: McGraw Hill, 1948. Hardcover. xiii + 354 pp.  An introduction to the field of cartography from a renowned Harvard University Professor.  Good, with  some corners folds to a few pages. Book #G-75. $20.

An International Sourcebook of Paper History.  Leif, Irving P.  Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1978.  Cloth, 8vo, 160 pp. 2,185 entries. The first attempt at a comprehensive bibliography of handmade paper and watermarks, from its earliest appearance to the manufacture of paper by machine. Entries are arranged by country and then alphabetically by author, with indexes of authors and subjects.  Very Good.  Book #BR-07.  $25. 

Mapmakers.  Wilford, John Noble.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981.  First edition.  Hardcover with illustrated dust jacket.  xi + 414 pp.  A comprehensive history of cartography from the ancient Greeks to the space age. Includes a bibliographical list of reference books on the subject.  Very Good with a few slight bumps at corners, d/j near fine. Book #G-76. $25.

Antique Map Price Record and Handbook Including Sea Charts, City Views, Celestial Charts and Battle Plans.  Rosenthal, Jon K. (compiled and edited).  Amherst, MA:  Kimmel Publications.Handbooks for 1994 (360 pp) Book #BR-01;  1997-1998 (408 pp) Book #BR-02; and 1999-2000 (471 pp) Book #BR 08.  Cloth with some map illustrations.  These are detailed guides to prices for antique maps.  Chapters include Dealer Directory, Frequency Distribution of Available Maps, Price Listing, References, etc.  All in near fine condition, with some corner bumps, 1997-98 edition with dealer’s stamp on blank end paper).  $40 for all three.

Individual volumes of The Map Collector Magazine.  R.A. Tooley, Valerie Scott, and others (editors).  The renowned magazine on antique maps.  $10 each.
SOLD:  Issue #7. June 1979:  The Great Lakes of Africa, Fat Tailed Sheep, Unusual Collection of Maps, other  articles, etc. 
Issue #37, December 1986: Sebastian Munster, Mapping Arabia, Clements Library Collection, other articles, etc.
Issue #58, Spring 1992:  Columbus and Maps, In the Wake of Columbus, Other article on Columbus, other articles, etc.
Issue #60. Autumn 1992: Captain Cook’s First Chart, Rare Italian Atlas, Gastaldi & Ramusio “Nuova Francia, other articles, etc.
Issue #65. Winter 1993:  Samuel Thornton Sea Atlas, Sicily on Early Maps, First Recorded Map of the United States, Wallmap Fragment Discovered, Portolans in Portugal, other articles, etc.
Issue #70, Spring 1995:  Unstable editions of Ortelius’ Atlas, Persia or Iran, Mapping of America, Vinland Maps, other articles, etc.

Individual volumes of Mercator’s World: The Magazine of Maps, Atlases, Globes, and Charts.    The successor to The Map Collector Magazine.  Numerous color plates.
ALL ISSUES SOLD.
$5 each.  All 30 volumes at 50% discount for $75.
Volume 1, no. 5 1996:  The Itinerario. Eight centuries of world maps, other articles, etc.
SOLD:  Volume 1, no. 6, 1996: Hudson Bay, Mathew Carey, The Search for the Nile River, Color of Old Maps, other articles, etc.
Volume 2, no. 2 May/June 1997:  Abraham Ortelius, Ordinance maps, Phoenician World Map, other articles, etc.
Volume 3, No. 1 Jan/Feb 1998:  Plotting Custer’s Last Stand, POW escape maps, Frobisher and the Arctic, other articles, etc.
SOLD:  Volume 3, no. 2 March/April 1998:  Unsung Explorer of the Southeast, African Bestiaries, Russian Mapping of the North Pacific, other articles, etc.
Volume 3, no. 3 May/June 1998: Cartographic Blunders, Map Collectors of the Italian Renaissance, Mongol Empire and the Age of Discovery, There’s Gold on Them Thar Maps, other articles, etc.
Volume 3, no. 6 Nov/Dec 1998:  Wind Rose origins, Portolans, other articles, etc.
SOLD:  Volume 4, no. 2 March/April 1999:  Heart of Africa, Herman Moll and his circle, Quebec, Catalan Atlas, other articles, etc.
Volume 4, no. 3 May/June 1999:  Measuring the earth, Henry Hudson and Hessel Gerritsz, Australia, other articles, etc.
Volume 4, no. 4 July/August 1999:  The Royal Geographical Society, Jesuits and Chinese World View, Prince Henry the Navigator, other articles, etc.  (two copies).
Volume 4, no. 5 Sept/Oct 1999:  The NY Public Library, Raisz and cartography, Edward Stanford, other articles, etc. (three copies).
Volume 4, no. 6 Nov/Dec 1999: R.V. Tooley, Vancouver’s great voyage, Maps of India, French enlightenment geography, other articles, etc. (three copies).
Volume 5, no. 1 Jan/Feb 2000:  Vikings in America, Edmond Halley and his charts, Holy Lands map collection, other articles, etc. (two copies).
Volume 5, no. 2 March/April 2000:  Mercator’s Secret, British Library, other articles, etc.
Volume 5, no. 3 May/June 2000:  Columbus and the Piri Reis Map of 1513, Miami Map Fair, Maps in Lee’s Gettysburg Campaign, other articles, etc.
Volume 5, no. 4 July/Aug 2000: Origins of the Visscher View of New Amsterdam. other articles, etc.
Volume 5, no. 5 Sept/Oct 2000:  Scotland Surveyed, David Rumsey’s online map collection, other articles, etc.
Volume 5, no. 6 Nov/Dec 2000:  Dudley’s last secret, 1562 Gutierrez map of America, other articles, etc.
Volume 6, no. 1 Jan/Feb 2001:  Scandinavia and Olaus Magnus Map of 1539, Treasures of the Huntington Library, Rodney Shirley, other articles, etc.
Volume 6, no. 2 March/April 2001:  Cities of Blaeu’s world, Maps of Independence, other articles, etc.
Volume 6, no. 3 May/June 2001:  Carving up America, The legacy of Prince Henry the Navigator, other articles, etc.
Volume 6, no. 4 July/Aug 2001:  Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Exercise in Map Genealogy, other articles, etc.
SOLD:  Volume 6, no. 5 Sept/Oct 2001:  Stanley and the search for the Nile, Mutiny on the Bounty, the Blaeu fire, other articles, etc.
Volume 7, no. 1 Jan/Feb 2002:  Visions of the Sky, Guatemala, other articles, etc.
Volume 7, no. 2 March/April 2002:  Amerigo Vespucci, Geography in time of war, other articles, etc.
Volume 7, no. 3 May/June 2002:  Maps in a time of war, First colony from the age of Exploration, other articles, etc.
Volume 7, no. 4 July/Aug 2002:  Father Kino and California, Cadastral surveying in the US, Amerigo Vespucci, other articles, etc.
Volume 7, no. 5 Sept/Oct 2002:  Michelin maps, other articles, etc.
Volume 8, no. 1 Jan/Feb 2003:  Father of Korean Cartography, Sneden’s Civil War cartography, other articles, etc.
Volume 8, no. 2 March/April 2003:  British pursuit of Spanish treasure galleons, Louisbourg on early maps, Athanasius Kircher and his maps, other articles, etc.

 AMERICA

The Mapping of North America II:  A list of printed maps 1671-1700.  Burden, Philip D. Rickmansworth : Raleigh Publications 2007.  Bound in burgundy cloth with color dust jacket.  612 pages, 270 x 365 mm., With 12 + 364 map entries, 12 color plates and 392 black and white photographs. The “pre-eminent” book on the maps of North America from 1671 to 1700.  New.  Book #AM-32.  $325.

The New World: The First Pictures of America. Lorant, Stefan (edited and annotated). Illustrations by John White, Jacques Le Moyne.  New York: Duel, Sloan & Pearce, 1946.  First Edition. 4to (9 x 12” inches tall). 292 pp, tan cloth covered boards w/ dark brown title block on spine and brown w/ gilt lettering, d/j light brown w/dark brown illustrations & lettering on spine & front. Endpapers show facsimile of 1585 White map of Virginia with ships at sea.  This extraordinary book offers five different books in one:  John White’s watercolors made in Virginia in 1585, Theodore De Bry’s engravings of the Florida colony, De Bry’s engravings of the Virginia colony, Thomas Hariot’s report of “the New found land of Virginia”, Eyewitness accounts of Jacques Le Moyne, Le Challeux, Barlowe, Lane, and John White. These were groundbreaking books at the time on the 1580's first French settlement in Florida, and the English settlement in Virginia.   Sixty-two color facsimile illustrations after watercolors by John White, 66 reproductions of illustrations by De Bry, other contemp. illustrations. and maps.   A beautifully produced book on the discovery & exploration of America.  Fine. Clean, bright pages.  Book #AMH-04. SOLD.

Atlas of Columbus and the Great Discoveries: Celebrating the 500th Anniversary of the Discovery of America.  Nebenzahl, Kenneth.  Chicago, IL: Rand McNally, 1990.  Blue cloth, gilt spine and cover lettering. illustrated d/j,  50 color plates, most of which are maps, from the 15th and 16th centuries. 14 3/4" x 11 1/4" wide (approx). viii+168 pages including index & bibliography. Book Fine with dust jacket near fine.  Book #AM-22.  $65.

Columbus Papers:  The Barcelona Letter of 1493, the Landfall Controversy, and the Indian Guides.  Obregon, Mauricio.  New York:  Macmillan Publishing Co., 1991.  Beautiful buckram cloth with burgundy leather quarter-bound spine, and red linen slipcase. Oblong quarto (12.5" x 11.25" high),   Original wrapper enclosed.  The signature of Columbus is reproduced and stamped in burgundy on the front board of the book. 85 pp, 5 full color illustrations of significant maps, photographic reproduction of the entire Columbus letter at the NY Public Library, other illustrations and maps.   This is a facsimile edition of the unique copy of the Columbus letter in the New York Public Library with a new English translation by Lucia Graves.  Also included are sections on how Columbus sailed, the Landfall Controversy, The Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola and Home.  Fine Book, with very good slipcase.  Book #AMH-07.  $70.

The North Part of America.  Verner, Coolie and Basil Stuart-Stubbs.  Toronto: Academic Press of Canada Ltd., 1979.   Embossed Heavy Twill cover with slipcase. xi, 292 pp., In all 46 facsimiles of maps. Part I: The World in 1562, Part II: Initial Exploration and Settlement, 1556-1693, Part III: The Period of Expansion Eastern Canada 1703-1843, Part IV: Exploring and settling Central Canada 1597-1819, Part V: The arctic 1595-1875, Part VI: Opening The Pacific Northwest 1566-1871, Part VII: The Culmination 1858. With Appendix, Carto-Bibliography,Bibliography and index.  The book is limited to 1500 autographed copies.  This example is number 861, with the signatures of Coolie Verner and Basil Stuart-Stubbs on a printed and signed introductory page.  Book #AM-19.  SOLD.

 America Explored : A Cartographical History of The Exploration Of North America.  Johnson, Adrian.  New York: The Viking Press, 1974. Folio (10+ x 13.5" high). pp: [x], 254. Over 350 illustrations, some in color; maps, documents, engravings, paintings etc. Index.  Bound in brown faux leather, titled in gilt to top board and to spine with illustrated dust jacket.   This book provides an excellent view of the exploration of North America, with numerous maps and early illustrations, from the Viking voyages to the Mormons.   Book good, with splitting of upper and lower top board at fold but still solid; D/J has scruff on top center. Prior owners’ stamp on front end-sheet.  Interior clean. Book #AMH-03. $60.

Shedding the Veil. Mapping the European Discovery of America and the World. Based on Selected Works from the Sidney R. Knafel Collection of Early Maps, Atlases, and Globes 1434-1865.  Suarez, Thomas.  Singapore, New Jersey, etc.: World Scientific Publishing, 1992. Xiii + 203 pp., 4to, 65 plates (24 colored). 61 maps described.  Cloth with illustrated dust-jacket.  Excellent, detailed description of many of the most important maps showing America. Like New. Book #G-97.  $50.

Manhattan in Maps: 1527-1995.  Cohen, Paul E, and Robert T. Augustyn.  New York: Rizzoli Publications, 1997.  Hardcover with dust jacket. 9.5"x11" high. 164 pp. 65 color plates.   “This lavishly illustrated volume explores New York’s urban and social history through rare and beautiful maps of the city produced during the past four hundred years and collected from archives and libraries throughout the world” (from dust jacket).  Autographed by authors April 14, 2000.  Near new book and d/j.  Book #AM-26.  $65.

VIRGINIA CARTOGRAPHY: A Bibliographical Description. Phillips, P. Lee.  Ann Arbor, MI: Arbor Libri Press, 1995.  Cloth, 85 pp.  This is a facsimile reprint of the original Phillips 1896 bibliographic monograph listing 200 Virginia maps, published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1896.  Like new.  Book #AM-16.  $20.

Maps and the Columbian Encounter: An Interpretive Guide to the Travelling Exhibition. Harley, J.B. Milwaukee, WI:  University of Wisconsin, 1990.  Pictorial wraps. xiii + 149 pages. 119 items illustrated and described. The exhibit celebrates the then forth-coming 500th anniversary of the first Columbus voyage with numerous important maps related to the Columbus voyage, including the Columbus letter of 1493.  Very good to near fine, with clean tight papers.  Book #AMH-08.  $45.

Piri Reis And His Charts. Ozen, Mine Esiner.  Istanbul:  Refioglu Publications, 1998.  Softbound with illustrated map on cover.  72 pp. 44 full color plates.  This is an overview of the Ottoman admiral and geographer Piri Reis.  Of note is a discussion of the famous Piri Reiss map of the world and its very early depiction of the New World.  Very Good.  Book #AMH-09.  $15.

 AFRICA

The Mapping of Africa:  A Cartobibliography of Printed Maps of the African Continent to 1700.  Betz, Richard L., with Penelope W. Betz.  't Goy-Houten, The Netherlands:  HES & De Graaf Publishers, 2007. 540 pp. Introduction, 175 map entries with numerous states & variants, richly illustrated in full color, Appendices.  The only complete cartobibliography of maps of Africa to 1700. Clothbound with full color dust jacket.  New.  Book #AF-33.  $225.

Africa On Maps Dating From The Twelfth To The Eighteenth Century.  Klemp, Egon. New York:  MacGraw Hill, 1970.  Two volumes including the elephant folio of the cartographic plates (cloth) and an accompanying text volume (softbound). Seventy-seven antique maps in facsimile on hinged sheets, most are double-paged and colored.  Text volume in 60 pages.  With the original beige hard linen slipcase.  This is the U.S. English language issue of the original Dresden printing of the color plates and text and the Leipzig binding.  A fine copy of this important work showing and describing antique maps of Africa dating from the twelfth to the eighteenth century by the leading German authority on antique maps of Africa.  Very Fine. Book #AFS-1.   $950. 

Livio Sanuto Geografia Dell’Africa: Venice 1588.  Sanuto, Livio, with bibliographical notes by R.A. Skelton. Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Ltd., 1965.  From the famous series of atlases and books in facsimile, second series, volume I   400 pp, including 12 double-page maps. Tan cloth with titles in gilt on a black ground. This is a facsimile of one of the most important publications on Africa issued in the 16th Century. The atlas contains a beautifully engraved title page and maps. Very good with mended tears to d/j bottom, ceasing to first blank page. Book #AFS-3.  $250.

Collectors Guide to Maps of the African Continent and Southern Africa. Tooley, R.V.  London:  Carta Press, 1969.   Boards covered in green buckram, gilt lettering to spine, a fine copy in a good d/j,  26x19cm, xvi + 128pp, b/w illustrations including one hundred full page plates of maps of Africa and five color plates. This exhaustive study of the cartography of Africa by the noted antiquarian map expert includes cartobibliographic descriptions and one hundred black and white plates of the maps of Africa from 1713 to 1872.  Fine.  Book #AF-20. $100.

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Hemispheres Antique Maps & Prints
Dr. Richard L. & Penelope W. Betz
Phone: 603-446-7181 • Fax: 603-446-2301
E-mail: betz@betzmaps.com