WHAT TO COLLECT?  This remains the big question for lovers of cartography.  Well here's a quick guide. Senior specialist Julian Wilson of Christies charts the map collector’s world, from the landmark 16th-century atlases published by Ortelius and Blaeu to Nasa’s psychedelic maps of the dark side of the moon. Illustrated with lots past and present offered at the auction house.

Subjects covered includes:

• The golden age of cartography: Ortelius and Blaeu
  Real rarities 
  Portolan atlases
  The appeal of the unusual, from Scotland to California
  The importance of provenance
  Affordable entry points for starting a collection
  Find alternative and unexpected areas to collect
  Visiting map fairs and map dealers to find out more about atlases and maps

Here's the link to GUIDE TO COLLECTING MAPS

If you collect antique maps or prints please tell us what you collect and why? Simply leave a comment below . . .

Yesterday 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

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

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

it's that time of year again for map lovers to descend on the showcase event that is "The London Map Fair."  Held at the historic London venue of The Royal Geographic Society map enthusiast from around the world get the chance to attend the largest antique map fair in Europe. The event brings together around 40 of the leading national and international antiquarian map dealers as well as hundreds of visiting dealers, collectors, curators and map aficionados.
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Highlights at this years fair provide for all levels of interest and budget.  The wonderful thing about the fair is the opportunity to see many examples of fine cartography from around the world.  You get the chance to meet other map enthusiasts and for those new to collecting you get the chance to hear talks about map collecting for beginners.  For those more serious collectors with deeper pockets these may take your fancy!

A classic 16th century map of South America LINSCHOTEN, Jan Huygen van. A highly decorative map of South America, engraved by Arnold Florent van Langeren for Linschoten's 'Itinerario', a manual for sailing to the East Indies. Orientated with north to the right, the West Indies and Florida are shown in some detail on the right; on the left Terra del Fuego, the landmass south of the Straits of Magellan, spreads out to fill the entire height of the map. (For sale from Altea Antique Maps & Charts) £7,850