Auction Highlights: Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books — May 29, 2025

At Auction Thursday, May 29 at 12:00 PM ET

Catalogue & Bidding
Karl Bodmer, Travels In The Interior Of North America, a unique unbound set with 4 volumes including an engraved meteorological chart, 81 hand-colored aquatint and engraved plates captioned in German, English, and French, all bearing the artist’s blindstamp at lower imprint, and engraved folding map, Paris, Coblenz and London, 1839-41. Estimate $400,000 to $500,000.

Our Spring auction features a varied selection of antique maps from around the globe, satisfying all levels of collector interest. Exciting themes on offer will be a group of over 25 maps of Bermuda and a strong collection of over 30 maps of the Holy Land and Jerusalem spanning the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries. 

Our color-plate category is highlighted by a unique complete set of Karl Bodmer’s hand-colored aquatint engravings capturing the scenery and native inhabitants he encountered while accompanying Prince Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied’s North American exploration up the Missouri River into the Plains territory in 1832. 

Martin Waldseemüller, Universalis Cosmographia Secundum Ptholomaei Traditionem Et Americi Vespucii Alioru[m]que Lustrationes, early 20th-century full-size facsimile of Waldseemüller’s 1507 woodcut world map, hand-colored photo-lithograph, Innsbruck, circa 1903. Estimate $2,500 to $3,500.
Vincenzo Coronelli, America Settentrionale [and] America Meridionale, two maps of the western hemisphere on four double-page engraved sheets, hand-colored in outline, Venice, circa 1690. Estimate $10,000 to $12,000.
Emile-Alain Seguy, Papillons, title and introduction leaves, 18 (of 20) color pochoir plates, many heightened with metallic pigments, Paris, 1925. Estimate $2,000 to $3,000.
John Speed, Mappa Aestivarum / A Mapp Of The Sommer Ilands Once Called The Bermudas, double-page engraved map of Bermuda, hand-colored, London, 1626. Estimate $600 to $900.
Mahlon Blaine, Book Row Of America, lithographed map of Broadway and Fourth Avenue between 14th Street and Astor Place, pictorially illustrated, New York, 1968. Estimate $500 to $700.
Nicolas Visscher, Africae Nova Descr., hand-colored double-page engraved map of the African continent ornamented with an emblematic title cartouche and four carte-a-figures and city plan border panels, Amsterdam, 1652. Estimate $2,000 to $3,000.
Vincenzo Coronelli and Jean-Baptiste Nolin, Orbis Coelestis Typus, set of hand-colored engraved segments to construct an enormous celestial globe, 24 conical gores and 2 circular polar calottes re-struck from the original copper plates, Paris, 1693. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
Abraham Ortelius, Two Engraved Renaissance Maps Of The Region, Antwerp. Estimate $800 to $1,200.
Thomas Gordon, A Map Of The State Of New Jersey With Part Of The Adjoining States Compiled Under The Patronage Of The Legislature Of Said State, large engraved case map, exceptional original hand-color in full, Trenton, NJ, 1828. Estimate $2,000 to $3,000.
John Melish, A General Collection Of Maps, Charts, Views, letterpress title-page/contents leaf and 30 engraved maps and plans, Philadelphia, 1824. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
Haasis & Lubrecht, The American Union Railroad Map Of The United States, British Possessions, West Indies, Mexico, And Central America, large wax-engraved map of the United States illustrating her mass network of nineteenth-century railroad lines, bold original hand-color in full, New York, 1871. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
New York Electric Vehicle Association, Electric Automobile Charging Stations Route Maps, 17 pages and 2 lithographed folding maps with red overprinting, New York, 1915. Estimate $600 to $900.
Basilus Besler, Group Of 5 Lovely Hand-Colored Engraved Plates From Hortus Eystettensis, folio sheets, Eichstatt, 1613 or after. Estimate $2,000 to $3,000.
Collection Of A Dozen Printed Scores To Uncommon And Amusing Nineteenth-Century Petroleum-Based Polka, Galop, And Waltz Melodies, 1860s. Estimate $1,500 to $2,000.
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May 6, 2025
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Category: Maps & Atlases
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