PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF SALE 2450, June 7, 2017:

MAPS & ATLASES, NATURAL HISTORY & COLOR PLATE BOOKS

Sale total: $704,414 with Buyer’s Premium

Hammer total: $560,480

Estimates for sale as a whole: $574,400 to $868,900

We offered 426 lots; 347 sold (81% sell-through rate by lot)

Top lots                                                                                                                                                                    Prices with buyer’s premium

225*        Hovhannes Amira Dadian, first world atlas in the Armenian language, Venice, 1849.                                                         $37,500 D

60•           Lewis Evans, Speciel Land Charte von Pensilvanien, Neu Jersey, Neu York, Frankfurt, 1750.                                         $27,500 D

249           Arnoldus Montanus & John Ogilby, America: Being the Latest, & Most Accurate…, second issue, London, 1673. $25,000 D

36             Joseph Frederick Wallet Des Barres, A Sketch of the Operations Before Charleston, London, 1780.                           $21,250 C

296           William Hodgson, Journal of a Voyage, two manuscript ship’s logs, with 35 watercolor illustrations, 1891-21.   $20,800 D

12             Samuel Baker, A New & Exact Map of the Island of St Christopher [St. Kitt’s], London, 1753.                                     $18,750 D

228           Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, L’Hydrographie Françoise, with 92 charts, Paris, circa 1770.                                                     $18,750 D

310           George Shaw & Frederick Polydore Nodder, The Naturalist's Miscellany, complete, London, 1789-1813.                $16,250 C

30             Henry Briggs, The North part of America…, hand-colored map showing CA as an island, London, 1625.                 $15,000 I

403           Thomas Rowlandson, attributed to, English Garden Scene, watercolor, England, circa 1820.                                         $11,875 C

7•             Aaron & Samuel Arrowsmith, Chart of the Sandwich Islands, London, 1830.                                                                     $10,625 D

254           Gerardus Mercator, Tabulae Geographicae, first edition of his Ptolemaic atlas, Cologne, 1578.                                    $10,625 D

219           Matthias Quad, six double-page maps, hand-colored, Cologne, circa 1600.                                                                            $9,100 C

259           John Speed, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, with 86 double-page maps, London, 1676.                        $8,125 D

62•           John Farmer, Map of the State of Michigan, large folding map, Detroit, 1846-47.                                                                $7,500 C

174           Abraham Ortelius, Maris Pacifici, double-page hand-colored map, Antwerp, circa 1590.                                                 $7,250 C

200           Pierre Francois Tardieu, United States of Nth. America, large case map, Paris, 1802.                                                          $6,750 D

235           Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon D’Anville & John Harrison, D’Anville’s Atlas, complete, London, 1792.                      $6,750 D

377•        Robert Cruikshank, 25 ink & watercolor drawings for juvenile dramas, London, 1830s.                                                   $5,750 D

159           Egbert Viele, Sanitary and Topographical Map of… New York, hand-colored lithograph, New York, 1865.            $5,500 D

239           Willem & Johannes Blaeu, Toonneel des Aerdrycx ost Nieuwe Atlas, volume 3, Amsterdam, 1642.                                $5,500 C

KEY:       * = Auction Record for Work; • = First at Auction; C = Collector; D = Dealer; I = Institution

Armenian Atlas Reaches $37,500

at Swann Galleries’ Antiquarian Maps Sale

New York— On June 7, Swann Galleries’ held its biannual auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books. Approximately two thirds of the lots offered fell into the category of maps and atlases, with strong results in both subheadings. Of the 265 lots, 86% percent found buyers, exceeding the low estimate for the section by more than $100,000.

The first world atlas in the Armenian language topped the sale, reaching more than five times its $6,000 high estimate to sell for $37,500*, a record for the work. Hovhannes Amira Dadian created the atlas in the Armenian monastery on the Venetian island of San Lazzaro in 1849 in an effort to bring Western knowledge to his home country. The atlas boasts ten hand-colored double-page maps, including one of the solar system, all of which were printed in Paris and based primarily on contemporary French models.

Another highlight was the Speciel Land Charte von Pensilvanien, Neu Jersey, Neu York, a 1750 map by Lewis Evans published in Frankfurt, whose alluring designations such as “The Endless Mountains” may have been responsible for the subsequent German emigration to the state. The map sold for $27,500, far exceeding its high estimate of $15,000. The only other known copy is in the collection of the Library of Congress.

Multiple bidders on a manuscript logbook that recounts two voyages from England to the Mediterranean, replete with records and delightful watercolors by Captain William Hodgson, sent the price flying past the high estimate of $5,000 to a price realized of $20,800. Specialist Caleb Kiffer notes, “The log book is one of those unusual items that rarely comes to market and that gets people really excited.”

Other items he noted included a mysterious early twentieth-century chalkboard globe that tripled its modest high estimate to sell for $1,625, and a rare map detailing the proceedings of the Revolutionary War near Charleston, SC ($21,250).

Mr. Kiffer added, “I was glad to see a mix of collectors, dealers and institutions actively bidding.”

The next sale of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books at Swann Galleries will be on December 5, 2017. For more information or consign quality materials, contact Caleb Kiffer at caleb@swanngalleries.com.

                 

Attached images are:

Lot 225

Hovhannes Amira Dadian, first world atlas in the Armenian language, Venice, 1849. Sold June 7, 2017 for $37,500, a record for the work. (Pre-sale estimate $4,000 to $6,000)

 

Lot 60

Lewis Evans, Speciel Land Charte von Pensilvanien, Neu Jersey, Neu York, Frankfurt, 1750. Sold June 7, 2017 for $27,500. (Pre-sale estimate $10,000 to $15,000)

 

*ALL PRICES INCLUDE BUYER’S PREMIUM

ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE, DIGITAL IMAGES & COMPLETE PRICES REALIZED ON REQUEST