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For the final day of , we're closing with the earliest obtainable sea chart of Europe, dated 1592.

Lucas Waghenaer's chart covers most Europe, the British Isles, Iceland, the western Mediterranean, and much of North Africa and the Western Atlantic, including the mythical Island of Brazil.

The chart is richly embellished with compass roeses, sea monsters, sailing ships, coats of arms and rhumb lines. The map appeared in Waghenaer's Speigel der Zeevaerdt. The first edition can be distinguished from the second edition by the inclusion of the curious circular representation of Iceland, which was revised in the second edition to a more recognizable shape.

Waghenaer's Spiegel was the first engraved sea atlas, making this seach chart of Europe and the Western Atlantic the earliest printed sea chart of the region. The engraving work of Joannes Doetecum is very much in evidence. Because this map was significantly larger than the other maps in the atlas, it rarely appears on the market in good condition. The present example is an unusually nice example, with narrow upper and lower margins (but no loss of neatline, as is often the case), and good side margins. Latin text on the verso. This is a fine example of this highly important map.

For , we're rolling with the waves with our 'Maritime Maps and the Med' theme ⚓️ Here we have a rare English edition of Colom’s Mediterranean Sea pilot, 1660.

Arnold Colom, the son of Jacob Colom, was, like his father, a bookseller, printer, and chartmaker. He would appear to have produced only two maritime atlases throughout his career: a pilot of the Mediterranean, and a sea atlas of the world. The reasons for this are unclear, although, with the market so dominated by the likes of Janssonius, Goos, and Doncker, his work might have struggled to secure a foothold.

Both Arnold and his father Jacob, produced pilots of the Mediterranean. However, when Arnold published his pilot in 1660 he chose not to reuse his father’s copperplates, instead cutting new plates at the behest of John Tuthill, an English bookseller from Yarmouth. The contract that they signed survives, and states that Colom was to deliver 500 Strait-books unbound to John Tuthill at 45 pennies a piece; one hundred of which were to be sold by Colom. A penalty of 500 guilders was set out for both parties if the contract was breached: Tuthill for commissioning another chartseller to produce a Straitsbook; and Colom for printing more than the agreed amount. The work was to be sold for no less than six guilders for the period of the 12 year contract.

Rare. Koeman records only three institutional examples of this edition: the Bodleian Library; the National Maritime Museum; and the Admiralty Library, Portsmouth.

Christmas has hit the gallery 🎄

is coming to a close today, and we're delighted to have been a part of it.

Our second highlight is a scarce composite plate with separate maps of Minorca (157 x 173 mm) and Gibraltar (110 x 106 mm), the principal acquisitions of the British in the Mediterranean from the Treaty of Utrecht (1713).

It is assumed that the plate was first engraved in 1713 or 1714; the only example of this first state encountered came from the Macclesfield's collection. The joint imprint of Moll and John King sr. places this printing in the mid-1720s, no doubt during the siege of 1727.

The title-page of the second edition of Jacques Ozanam's A Treatise of Fortification notes ‘To which is prefix'd a PLAN of Gibraltar, &c. with all its Fortifications as they are at present, shewing the great Strength and Use of it, &c. Humbly Inscribed to the Right Honourable the E. of Portmore’ (London: J. Jackson and John Worrall, 1727), which would imply map 34 above, but the only recorded copy (Sotheby's, Library of the Earls of Macclesfield, Part 10, 30th October, 2007, lot 3494) contained this map sheet.

Today marks the beginning of . We welcome you to our virtual stand, with the theme 'Maritime Maps and the Med'.

First up is a large-scale and beautifully decorated chart of the Mediterranean, 1746. To the upper left is an elaborate title-cartouche with Neptune riding two white horses together with other personifications of the sea, above which is the coat-of-arms of Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas, head of the French navy and to whom the chart is dedicated.

Below the title are French, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian scale bars, repeated in the second (Eastern) sheet, within an elaborate cartouche.

Little is known of François Olivier (fl.1746-1782), however, he must have been a fine seaman as the present chart gives him the title of Vice-Admiral of the Toulon region ("Vice-Amiral au Departement de Toulon"). By the middle of the eighteenth century Toulon had become one of France's most important naval bases, from where she operated her large Mediterranean fleet.

Rare. We are only able to trace three institutional examples: in the British Library; The National Maritme Museum; and the Bibliotheque Nationale de France.

Firsts Online begins today! We welcome you to our virtual stand, where we'll be showcasing highlights from our 'Maritime Maps and the Med' theme.

To mark day one, we have a trade card with charts of the Mediterranean for sale. Illustrated with a variety of nautical instruments, Trabaud’s (1731-1818) trade card offers a variety of up-to-date maps and charts of the Mediterranean, official and unofficial, including by the mysterious “Mr. Alezard ancient Capitaine marin”.

Today's view is an engraving and aquatint showing the Grand Western Entrance into London.

A beautifully coloured print of the gate at the entrance at Hyde Park Corner, with the newly remodelled Apsley House to the right. In the centre is the royal carriage, surrounded by mounted soldiers, pursued by an excited dog and with William IV within, raising his top hat to bystanders. Pedestrians and equestrians alike have moved to the sides of the road to let the royal party through, and those close enough to see the occupant are raising their hats as well, even the small boy playing with a hoop in the centre foreground.

William IV had come to the throne only a year before, after his two elder brothers had died without issue. Never expecting to be king to the throne, he had spent most of his life pursuing his twin passions of the navy and women, and had amassed nine illegitimate children. As well as a new king, the print shows a new structure. The Hyde Park Screen was finished in 1828, designed by Decimus Burton, replacing the toll gate that had been there previously. The frieze visible on the entablature was the creation of the Scottish sculptors John Henning and his son of the same name, who drew their inspiration from the Elgin Marbles, which had gone on private display in Britain in 1807.

And so the Abu Dhabi Art Fair comes to a close. Thanks to all who came to our stand, and thank you for hosting us. Here's a final sneak peek of one of the highlights of our stand - one of the largest maps of the Arabian peninsular produced in the nineteenth century.

The map extends north to south from Kermanshah to the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, and west to east from Korti, Sudan to Chabahar, Pakistan. Drawn by James Wyld Junior, who was at the time cartographer to Queen Victoria, and Prince Albert, the map marks all the major cities in southern Iran and Iraq, southern eastern Saudi Arabia, and Sudan; roads are marked by a brown wash line, with major rivers drawn and named.

The stripping of all superfluous detail highlights the road network and enables the viewer to get a much clearer picture of the region, and how the major urban centres were related. This would have been invaluable to the British, who had by the early nineteenth century begun to take a keen interest in the Middle East. Their principal concern was Russian interference in the region and the threat they posed to British control of India. The British had also recently taken control of the port of Aden - the territory here marked by a dotted line - which they deemed vital for the protection of vessels through the Red sea, and as a refuelling point for steamers.

Manscript maps by James Wyld are rare, we are unable to trace any examples coming up at auction since The War. We are also unable to trace any other maps produced on this scale of the region during the Nineteenth Century.

Today is Day Three of the Abu Dhabi Art Fair. With us here today is the only known example of the 1963 one-sheet edition of Julian Walker’s map of the Trucial States: the map that would become the template for the newly formed United Arab Emirates.

The Trucial States was a name given by the British Government to a group of sheikhdoms on the southern coast of the Arabian Gulf, whose leaders had, by the early nineteenth century, signed a series of protective treaties with Britain. These included: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujarah, Ras Al Kaimah, Sharjah, and Umm Al Quwain.

The treaties and agreements, from the British side at least, where designed to suppress - what they saw as - piracy in the Gulf, which had been plaguing Britain’s merchant fleet in the early years of the nineteenth century. Throughout that century, Britain’s involvement within the Gulf increased, as she came to view the region as a bulwark against French, Ottoman, and Russian influence, and in order to protect the vital shipping lanes to India, something that would only increase with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. In 1892, Britain signed the Exclusive Agreement in which the sheikhs agreed not to dispose of any territory except to Britain and not to enter into relationships with any other foreign government without Britain's consent. In return, the British promised to protect the Trucial Coast from aggression by sea and, in some limited respects, land.

These formal treaties were, it has been argued, a crucial step in the region’s progression to statehood, as however unequal the treaties were, the very act of signing them by the British was a tacit recognition of the sheikhs having territory and dependants to protect and defend. These territories and their boundaries would take on much greater significance with the discovery of oil in the early 1950s.

The geographical location of Abu Dhabi makes the orientation of Synagogue (towards Jerusalem), Church (towards the rising sun), and Mosque (towards Mecca) three different directions on a triangle. Neat.

Today marks the opening of the fifteenth edition of the Abu Dhabi art fair. We look forward to welcoming you to our stand at A10, at .

Today is the cricket final! Australia v.s. India.

Here we have a 'Plan of Discovery by John McDouall Stuart shewing his route across and fixing the Centre of the Continent of Australia', 1861.

“At the end of 1860 the South Australian government voted £2500 to equip a large expedition to be led by Stuart. Burke and Wills had already set out to cross the continent so there was no time to lose if a South Australian party was to arrive first. On 1 January 1861, he left Chambers Creek with eleven men and reached Attack Creek late in April; with two others, he found a way through the scrub that had defeated him before, to Sturt's Plain. After exhausting failures to pass the plains, with their provisions low and their clothes in shreds, Stuart gave in and on 12 July turned south to reach Adelaide on 23 September. He received the 1861 gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society from the governor” (Morris).

During his sixth expedition, between October and December of 1862, Stuart was finally successful in reaching the waters of the Indian Ocean. However, his reputation as a heavy drinker led many detractors to doubt that he reached the coast, though the tree he had marked with “JMDS” was positively identified in 1883 and photographed in 1885.
“White-haired, exhausted and nearly blind”, Stuart decided to visit his sister in Scotland and sailed in April 1864. He later went to London, where he died in 1866, after publishing his ‘Journals’, in 1864.

Fighting Australia's cricket team today, we represent India through an attractive map showing the various trade routes to Europe, with a larger map of Europe and the Mediterranean at the top, and a detailed regional map of the Middle East and Western India at the bottom, 1851.

Decorative vignettes of Gibraltar, the London Post Office, Malta, Aden, Madras and Bombay, and the Mail Crossing the Desert by Camel. Engraved for R. Montgomery Martin's ‘Illustrated Atlas’. Tallis was one of the last great decorative map makers. His maps are prized for the wonderful vignettes of indigenous scenes, people, etc.

Bad luck South Africa - Australia took the lead in yesterday's cricket semi-final.

Celebrating both teams, our first image is our map of South Africa to accompany the fourth annual report of the British South Africa Company 1894.

This was published at Stanford’s Geographical Establishment in London, founded and run by Edward Stanford. At this point in time, Stanford had already become the sole agent for Ordnance Survey Maps in England and Wales, and had received his royal warrant as Cartographer to the Queen. As well as the Ordnance Survey, he was an agent for the Admiralty, the Geological Survey, the India Office and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Stanford continued to produce maps for the British South Africa Company, which gradually became larger and more detailed surveys of the company’s territories. This particular map is rare: although there are six institutional examples of Stanford’s standard map of British South Africa on which this is based, we have been unable to trace another copy of this specific example, with its focus on the company’s affairs.

The second image from our gallery is the first printed chart to depict Melbourne and the first Admiralty survey of Port Phillip, 1838.

In September 1836, Governor Bourke established the Port Phillip District of New South Wales, though the borders had still not been determined, with the settlement as its administrative centre. In order to gain some control over the new settlement Bourke dispatched Captain William Lonsdale as his agent. Lonsdale landed unofficially, distributing the official proclamation of the establishment of the new settlement, and did the same the next day. On 1 October 1836 Lonsdale was formally rowed up the Yarra River.

Bourke also commissioned Robert Hoddle to make the first plan for the town, completed on 25 March 1837, which came to be known as the Hoddle Grid. The surveys were intended to prepare for land sales by public auction. Bourke visited Port Phillip in March 1837, confirmed Lonsdale's choice of a site for the new town and named it Melbourne, after the then British prime minister William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne.

Today marks the semi-final of the cricket 🏏

As India is batting first, our first image is taken from our cartographic game board celebrating the British Empire in India [c1847]. This mysterious game board was likely designed to capitalise on public interest following the successful conclusion of the First Anglo-Sikh War, of 1845-46.

The central part of the game is a map of Europe, Africa and Asia, with three sailing routes from England to India outlined, with the Atlantic Ocean route featuring tiny circular panels numbered 1-9. The map is surmounted by views of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, as well as six medallion portraits of British sovereigns from George I to Victoria, with the dates of their reigns indicated. Below and flanking the map, thirtysix dated vignettes depict important events from the history of the British in India, with each vignette framed in an unusual twining vine border. Scenes of interest include the Black Hole of Calcutta (1756) at the lower left corner, the burning fleet at the Battle of Yangon in the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824) at the lower right, the wives of the Sikh Emperor Ranjit Singh committing sati on his funeral pyre (1839) at the upper right corner. The latest date given is 1846, on a battle scene from the Anglo-Sikh War at upper right.

On the New Zealand side, we have Vincenzo Coronelli's first separate chart of New Zealand, from 1706. Coronelli’s chart of the partial western coast of New Zealand is based on the discoveries of Abel Tasman of 1642, although the information was not widely known until Willem Blaeu published his great wall map of 1663, ‘Archipelagus Orientalis, sive Asiaticus’. It is, therefore, probably safe to assume that Coronelli has misascribed the date of discovery in the title of his chart.

The image was first published as part of one of Coronelli’s globe gores, c1696, and then as a vignette, as here in his 'Isolario', part of a brilliant marketing strategy that reused the engraved plates originally prepared for the globes, in atlas format. However this iteration was included in volume II of his ‘Teatro della Guerra’ (1706)

We'll soon be exhibiting at the Abu Dhabi Art Fair. Turning our minds towards Arabia, here we have an attractive example of Mercator's Ptolemaic map of the Middle East.

This map is from the 1595 edition of Mercator's ‘Geographia’, based upon the works of Claudius Ptolemy. While perhaps most famous for his maps of the modern World and the first to use the name "Atlas" to describe a book of maps, one of Mercator's life works was a corrected and improved edition of maps based upon the work of Claudius Ptolemy.

The first edition of Mercator's map of the Arabian Peninsula rarely appears on the market.

Wishing you a safe and peaceful Diwali 🪔

On November 10th 1942, following the British victory at El Alamein in North Africa during World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill stated, "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

The first and second battles of El Alamein resulted in the defeat of the German forces led by Rommel.

Published in the same year, we have a colour lithographed map of Egypt from the London Geographical Institute. It offers an ‘Explanation of Arabic terms’, and an inset of the ‘Egypt and the Nile Valley, Physical’.

On this day in 1519, Cortes and his troops conquered Mexico by storming the Aztec capital and capturing Emperor Montezuma. Fast-forward a few centuries, here we have a rare early plan of Mexico City from 1785.

Tomas Lopez de Vargas Machuca (1731-1802) was a Spanish publisher and the leading cartographer of the age. He established the only independent cartographic publishing house in Spain. He began making maps for the Bourbon kings and became Royal Geographer to King Carlos III in 1780. He was even authorised to create a geographic agency for the secretary of state in 1795.

His work was typical of late eighteenth century Spanish attempts to assert control of their empire through cartography. Spain’s reluctance at the beginning of the eighteenth century to make public claims on their American territories via maps and sparse settlements “encouraged Spain’s European rivals, France and Britain, to engage in real and cartographic ‘filibustering’ campaigns in the region” (Reinhartz).

Although Castera and Lopez’s map supposedly presents a detached view, it is still fraught with ideology. Mexico City was a vital part of New Spain: the capital of the viceroyalty, the seat of the bishopric and a trading centre with links to both Asia and Europe. Carlos III, king at the time this map was made, was determined that the reforms he initiated in Spain should be copied throughout the Spanish empire, and that Spanish colonial possessions should reflect European cultural values. Protestant critics dismissed Spain’s empire as an “intellectual backwater”.

This plan counters these claims by displaying it in the style of a European city view: well-planned, geometric, and modern. �It addresses contemporary ideas which equated the physical order of a state with its political efficacy, reflecting the political, social and urban modifications resulting from the reforms carried out by the Bourbon kings in the second half of the eighteenth century. In this sense, it is the first printed map to show “modern” Mexico.

On November 6th 1429, Henry VI was crowned King of England at age eight. He had acceded to the throne at the age of nine months following the death of Charles VI.

Our Chaworth Roll is a genealogical roll that traces the pedigree of the kings of England from Egbert (829-839) to Edward II (1307-1327), with a later an extension to Henry IV (1399-1413). Written in Anglo-Norman French, and comprising nine parchment membranes at some 6.5 metres in length, it also incorporates the second earliest recorded road map of the British Isles, a fine example of early English vernacular art, and a stylised map of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy.

Such rolls were chiefly didactic in purpose, and often made to educate children. Indeed, it is likely that the Chaworth roll was commissioned as one of four scrolls made for the children of Sir Thomas Chaworth (1290-1343). However, as easily understood documents presenting a popular narration of history, they also serve as secular and pictorial justifications for the authority of the royal line.

British historical convention dictates that the crown’s pedigree begins with Egbert as he is traditionally credited with bringing peace to, and uniting, the seven disparate Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Kent, Essex, East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, and Sussex. Because of this, medieval genealogical rolls often begin with a description of these disparate kingdoms in order to illustrate the historical legitimacy of the power of the crown. What marks the Chaworth roll as distinctive, however, is the inclusion of additional “pictorial prefaces” showing both the Royal Roads of England, and the “Wheel of Fortune”.

This moves the role of the roll from that of an educational tool to an instrument of power, politics, and propaganda.

On this day in 1839, the first O***m War between China and Britain began.

Here we have a rare chart from the British Admiralty, on an unusual conical projection, of the northern Chinese provinces, including Shanghai, Nanking and Peking, during the Second O***m War.

The chart includes annotations in French showing the course of a ship which entered Shanghai from the south and thereafter departed to the north between June 8 and July 3. The user was thwarted, however, by the conical projection, making the course incorrect, as can be seen with the correction to the position of July 2.

It encompasses the area from Ni**od Sound （象山港Xiangshan Gang） and the Chusan Archipelago (舟山群岛 Zhoushan qundao) in the south to the Gulf of Liau-Tong (辽东) in the north. The chart includes sounding depths as a navigation aid, but it also contains details of the interior, such as roads, rivers and cities. Marked with a crenulated pattern is the Great Wall extending across the ancient northern border.

The title block includes the title, a glossary of Chinese and Tartar words, two scales, and notes on vocabulary and terminology. There is also the seal of the Hydrographic Office and the price of this separately-issued chart, 5 shillings. The author of this chart, Edward J. Powell, also completed charts of Bombay Harbor and New Zealand for the Hydrographic Office.