Rare Atlases

Atlases at Forum Auctions

1. Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, The Mariners Mirrour, first edition in English, 1588. Sold for £43,750.
   The essential early guide for English mariners, with the author's name being so thoroughly adopted that a "Waggoner" eventually became synonymous with any volume of sea charts. This rare atlas contained 4 engraved navigational diagrams and star chart and 35 double-page maps engraved only (of 45) by Theodore De Bry and Joducus Hondius.
   
   
2. Christopher Saxton, An Atlas of England and Wales, first edition, 1579 [but c. 1590]. Sold for £56,250.
   First edition of the earliest and most-celebrated atlas of England and Wales with a good contemporary provenance. 34 engraved double-page and folding maps only (of 35, lacking the general map of England and Wales), all coloured in a contemporary hand.
   
   
3. John Speed, A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World, 1631. Sold for £25,000.
   Rare first atlas of the British Isles and the first world atlas compiled by an Englishman. 22 double-page engraved maps.
   
   
4. Richard Blome, A Geographical Description of the Four Parts of the World, 5 parts in 1, first edition, 1670. Sold for £20,000.
   An excellent copy of "the first new folio atlas to be published in England since 1627...the first folio (and quite possibly the very first) world atlas wholly engraved, printed and published in England".  25 folding or double-page engraved maps on 24 sheets, with hand-colouring in outline.
   
   
5. Robert Sayer & John Bennet, publishers. The American Military Pocket Atlas...of the British Colonies..., first edition, variant issue, 1776. Sold for £6,250.
   Known as the 'Holster Atlas' this work was designed for and issued to British cavalry officers for use in the field during the American War of Independence. It was "calculated in its Bulk and Price to suit the Pockets of Officers of all Ranks" (from the Advertisement leaf). 6 folding engraved maps hand-coloured in outline.
   
   
6. John Flamsteed, Atlas Coelestis, 1781. Sold for £13,750.
   The most important celestial atlas of the 18th century. "John Flamsteed, our astronomer royal, was the author of the most important star-atlas published during the period covered by this chapter (1675-1800), and one which satisfied the needs of astronomers generally for almost a century." Brown. Astronomical Atlases, p. 47. 27 double-page engraved star maps (on 28 sheets, map 14 in 2 sheets).
   
   
7. Robert Wilkinson, Atlas of the West-Indies, composite atlas, c.1795-1815. Sold for £69,300.
   Important publisher's composite atlas with numerous large, early and rare maps of the West Indies. 28 engraved maps and charts on 32 sheets, with four maps divided into North and South sheet sections, all with hand-colouring, many folding.
   
   
8. Frederico Brocktorff, Atlas, ay majmu' kharitat rasm al-ard, Malta, 1835. Sold for £23,750.
   The earliest obtainable atlas printed in Arabic. A very rare atlas.
   
   
9. John Arrowsmith, The London Atlas of Universal Geography, 1842. Sold for £21,250.
   One of the great English atlases of the 19th century. Arrowsmith (1790-1870) published his London Atlas originally in 1834, with this new edition appearing in 1842. It was subsequently reissued with the date of the preface and imprints on individual maps revised. This copy was enhanced by an additional 18 Arrowsmith maps, including some of his scarcest and most important. 86 maps in total.
   
   
10. John S. Webb & others, The Wolfson Geochemical Atlas of England and Wales, limited edition in unique custom binding, 1978. Sold for £3,250.
    Magnificent binding executed by James Brockman for Lord Wardington, reflecting the computer electrical circuit used in creating the maps for the atlas.