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As mentioned before on the blog if you have just a hint of knowledge about the fascinating world of maps you'll appreciate that old maps exist in a vast variety of forms, let alone the many differences in shape, size, subject and appearance.  So it's fair to ask what do collectors collect?  Here’s a quick list of some of the most popular categories of collecting:

1. By area    2. By mapmaker    3. Of a particular period    4. Displaying particular features    5. By theme    6. Individual significance
7. Appearance alone    8. For investment

​All the above have a special reason of interest for collectors as varied as the very collectors themselves. Here are two types of map that map enthusiasts love to collect.

County Map of Dorsetshire by Ebden & Duncan c1833   County Map of Warwickshire by John Speed c1611

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​Just One Thing - By Area
This is one of the most popular geographic themes for collectors.  It allows for a large amount of scope while keeping a limit on the size of a collection and control on cost or the level of investment. 

​You may decide to collect various antique maps of a specific area, like county maps. If you're based in the UK maybe english county maps are of interest to you. Some people collect maps by various mapmakers but only of a specific county.  There will be other maps available about the area also, like road maps, town plans, river maps or some with other cartographic features of interest. 

Collecting rare maps "By Area" is just one thing thats popular with map collectors.  These kinds of maps are readily available in the current market.  If these types of maps are something you already collect I'd love to hear why they interest you?  Please join in the conversation and leave a comment below...
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Back in June 2019 one of the world’s greatest libraries of seafaring books and atlases went to auction at Christies in London.  This included 203 lots with beautiful 17th century atlases from the Dutch Golden Age of Cartography, important and decorative single-sheet maps, as well rare narratives of the great voyages of exploration and discovery.


For breadth, scope and quality, the Mopelia Collection is one of the finest such collections to appear at auction.  Here are some highlights from the sale with hammer sale prices. You can feast you eyes over some of these beauties including Johannes van Keulen's De Groote Nieuwe Vermeerder-de Zee-Atlas ofte WaterWerelt. Published in Amsterdam in 1688, this is a handsomely engraved and beautifully hand-coloured example with the frontispiece and maps highlighted in gold, perhaps one of the greatest 17th-century Dutch sea-atlases to come to the market in recent years.

KEULEN, Johannes van (1654-1715). De Groote Nieuwe Vermeerderde Zee-Atlas ofte Water-Werelt. Amsterdam: Johannes van Keulen, 1688.  A hand-coloured maritime atlas of unprecedented scope and splendour. The charts after Claes Janszoon Voght combine baroque artistry with a technical ability that resulted in a half century of steady publication for the atlas from 1680 to 1734. Voght also wrote the short text. As Koeman stresses, the atlas was different to its predecessors in going through a process of continual enlargement and in having a content that was so variable.  ​Estimate:  £150,000 - £200,000  Sold: £395,250
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RENARD, Louis (fl. c.1702-1707) – Reinier OTTENS (1698-1750) and Josua OTTENS (1704-1765). Atlas van Zeevaert en Koophandel door de Geheele Weereldt. Amsterdam: Reinier and Josua Ottens, 1745.  Magnificent, hand-coloured copy of the corrected issue of Renard’s Atlas de la navigation et du commerce (Amsterdam: 1715), which had been printed from plates used for Frederik de Wit’s maritime atlas of c.1675. The firm of R. and J. Ottens produced a French edition in 1739, slightly different from 1715, and then this 1745 edition with Dutch text and careful correction of the plates. Estimated: £25,000 - £35,000 Sold: £50,000
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GOOS, Pieter (1615/1616-1675). Orbis Terrarum Nova et accuratissima tabula. Nieuwe Werelt Kaert. [Amsterdam: 1666 or later].  Very rare double-hemisphere world map, from Pieter Goos' maritime atlas, 'the finest printed at the time' (Shirley). This map's predecessors were the world maps published by Visscher and Blaeu - in fact Goos' atlases were often added to Blaeu's Atlas Maior as a maritime supplement. Estimate £6000 - £8000  Sold: £11,250
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WAGHENAER, Lucas Janszoon (1533-1606). De Zee Custen tußchen Dovere en Orfordtsneße, daer de Teemse de Vermaerde Rivire va Lonen gelegen is. [Amsterdam: Cornelis Claesz, 1588]. Van Doetecum engraved map of the coast of eastern England, from Dover to Great Yarmouth, showing the mouth of the Thames, coloured by a contemporary hand. Koeman IV, Wag 6 (23c); New Hollstein 816/VII. Estimate £800 - £1200 Sold: £1500

For those of you who like to know the numbers:  Sale total including buyer’s premium: GBP 2,301,000
Source and with thanks to Christies.com
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Rare original Antique Lithotint on India Paper "Buckerel Church" Honiton Devonshire by William Spreat from Spreat's Churches of Devon. Drawn from Nature and on stone by William Spreat. Printed by Charles Hullmandel c1842. India paper laid on heavy wove paper as original published. Some light creasing to sheet, engraved image remains good. Hand Coloured / tinted in watercolour. . . If you're looking to have antique maps or prints hand coloured get in touch . . . The Colourist

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In the 1840's William Spreat dominated the Exeter scene.  One of the earliest of his publications was the "Picturesque sketches of the Churches of Devon" as it records "Drawn from Nature and on Stone."  The work was originally published in eighteen parts with 74 lithographs and was completed in 1842.


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