Description
This is a beautiful full-color example of Matthäus Merian c. 1642 view of Venice at the height of its prosperity. The view looks directly north on Venice from a fictional highpoint in the Adriatic just south of Giudecca. The Piazza San Marco appears at center, with the Grand Canal winding its way through the neighboring islands Murano, Burano, Torcello, and Mazorbo, among others. The harbor is particularly bustling, with ships of all sizes and shapes waiting to dock. The armorial crest of the Republic of Venice appears in the upper right, crowned by the Doge s cap and the winged Lion of Venice at center.
Madagascar-coronelli-1697-2
$1,400.00
Title
Isola di Madagascar, o di S. Lorenzo scoperta da Portoghesi nell Anno 1506, Descritta dal P. MrÅ Coronelli M.C. Cosmografo della Seren.ma Rep: Di Venetia, Dedicata All Ill.mo Sigr. Antonio Magliabecchi, Bibliotecario dell A. Serenissima Del Gran Duca di Toscana.
1697 (undated)
1 : 1011588
Description
This is Vincenzo Maria Coronelli s 1697 map of Madagascar, the most sophisticated 17th century map of the island. While the southeastern portion of the island reflects the cartography of Ãtienne de Flacourt (1607 - 1660), who from 1648 to 1653 was French East Indiaâs Governor of Madagascar, and who in 1658 published the first natural history of the island, this map includes detail beyond any of the French or Dutch maps sourced from Flacourt s manuscripts. Typical of Coronelli s meticulously researched work, the map provides a granular catalogue of the island s coastline toponymy. The interior has been b
ParisAndEnvirons-concanen-1870-3
$3,000.00
Title
No. 8. Stannard and Son s, Perspective View of Paris and its Environs, Shewing All the Fortifications and Redoubts, Together with the Lines of Defense Recently Thrown Up, and the Roads, Rivers, and Railways Communication with the Interior.
1870 (dated)
Description
Published eighteen days before the beginning of the Siege of Paris on September 17, 1870, this 1870 Alfred Concanen view of Paris and its environs details the newly constructed defensive works around the French capital. Paris itself occupies the center of the view, and the Louvre and Notre Dame are easily identifiable, along with the Arc de Triomphe, the Panthéon, and the Invalides. The city s walls encircle the entire city, spanning 20.5 miles. A series of sixteen disconnected forts, constructed to protect the city gates, surround the city. Redoubts and other fortifications were built as well to supplement the forts.
1777 (dated)
1 : 430000
Description
A fine 1777 first-state first-edition map of New Jersey by William Faden and Bernard Ratzer - exhibiting the fine strong strike only evident on first editions. Focused on New Jersey, coverage extends to include eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York City. It captures the state s complex topography, noting the Jersey Highlands and the Palisades in the north and the Pine Barrens and coastal marshes in the south. New Jersey is here broken down into 12 counties, as they existed at the time, as well as multiple towns and roads. Note that there are no coastal routes through Monmouth County, requiring travelers instead to travel inland to Crosswicks, then south east to Egg Harbor, before continuing south. There is also an annotation regarding the settlement of Fort Helsingburg, near Salem on the Delaware River, where in 1640, Swedish settlers attempt to establish a colony.
1854 (undated)
Description
John Bornet presents a sweeping panoramic bird s-eye view of New York City on the cusp of its monumental expansion northwards in the second half of the 19th century. The view looks east on Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn from a high point to the west of Hoboken, New Jersey. Bornet purports to have drawn the view from nature , likely from Bergen Hill, New Jersey, a popular high point used by other viewmakers of the period.
Looking at the ViewThe view contrasts a rural and pastoral foreground with the bustling metropolis of New York City, which itself fades to green north of today s 42nd street. Bornet plays with exaggerated vertical contrast to highlight New York s many soaring church steeples, as well as the Latting Observatory, then the tallest building in New York, and New York Crystal Palace in modern day Bryant Park, both constructed for the 1853 Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations. Ships of both sail and steam, fill the lower