Collecting Antique Maps: Navigating the Cartographic Treasures of the Past
Journeying through history with a captivating fusion of art and geography, antique maps are not only fascinating geographical documents offering a vision of world’s gone by, but also artistic treasures in their own right.
Once considered prized pieces of art, cartography today holds a more functional and utilitarian place in society. But, the beguiling legacy of hand-drawn and engraved antique maps with their blend of art and science still hold a fascination for many looking to step back to a time when geographical narratives of power and influence were still being shaped.
And behind some of those maps were history’s greatest cartographers, whose mathematical approach to mapping furthered navigation and established a fascinating record of how we have understood the world over the centuries.
Mapping History
Today, cartographers don’t enjoy quite the same reputation they once did for their hand-drawn maps. Considered expensive art pieces that made the craftsmen famous for their exciting visions of the world, the often multi-disciplined cartographers were artists, engravers, or writers who shared their fascination with the world around them.
Claudius Ptolemy’s 2nd century book, Geographia, revolutionized cartography with its use of latitude and longitude for accurate navigation, and representation of the globe on a two-dimensional surface. This was applied to the one of the most ambitious productions of the 15th century, and the most sought-after ptolemaic atlases, the Ulm Ptolemy. Embellished with copperplate engravings, renaissance cartographer and Benedictine monk, Donnus Nicolaus, reproduced 27 maps based on Ptolemy’s descriptions.
The geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi furthered Ptolemy’s ideas in the Tabula Rogeriana, the first complete representation of the world. Incorporating knowledge of Islamic merchants in the 12th century, it featured 70 maps of the known world alongside information about the areas mapped, and set the standard for fine cartography.
Exceptional for its round shape and large two-meter diameter, Venetian monk Fra Mauro and his assistant, Andrea Bianco created the first mappamundi (world map) between 1457 and 1459. Placing Jerusalem at the heart of the painted vellum canvas that unusually shows south at the top map, it’s considered one of the finest pieces of medieval cartography and depicts the known world at the time of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
As the Age of Exploration dawned so did demand for maps among intrepid explorers. The Iberians in the early 1500s revived Ptolemy principles to produce nautical maps with greater accuracy and notably, Spanish cartographer Juan de la Cosa travelled with Christopher Columbus to North and South America, producing the first maps of the area.
It was the Mercator Projection from 1569 that helped foster a greater understanding of the world though – and is still used today. A notable maker of globes and scientific instruments, Gerardus Mercator was also an accomplished engraver and calligrapher, but despite his command of cartography he travelled little, relying on his vast library for his geographical knowledge to produce the first map that attempted to produce a round depiction of Earth on a flat surface.
The sky was quite literally the limit for some cartographers and Joan Blaeu‘s world map, Nova et Accuratissima Terrarum Orbis Tabula furthered cartography in 1648 with its depiction of the solar system, according to the heliocentric theories of Nicolaus Copernicus. A century earlier, Copernicus printed his groundbreaking book On the Revolutions of the Spheres, but it was Blaeu who first incorporated this revolutionary heliocentric theory into a map of the world.
The French cartographer Nicolas de Fer furthered cartography’s artistic credentials. Less a scientist, more an artist, De Fer produced over 600 beautiful maps during the 17th and 18th century that remain revered for their incredible aesthetic appeal. Such was the beauty of his maps that he even earned a royal appointment as geographer for the French Dauphin, the Duke of Anjou.
Across the Atlantic, the discovery of the new world of America provided cartographers with exciting new territory to map. The Boston-born painter and cartographer Henry Pelham’s A Plan of Boston in New England with Its Environs is considered one of the finest Revolutionary War prints, and was created for use by British intelligence.
And this time period has proved very popular among collectors, which was exemplified when Abel Buell’s 1784 New and Correct Map of the United States of America became the most expensive map ever when it sold at Christie’s for $1.8m. Not a name that springs immediately to mind among famous cartographers, Buell’s four-sheet wall-map of the newly independent nation was the first to include the Stars and Stripes, and the first to be printed in the United States.
Record-breaking prices have continued to reflect the demands for historical maps, as the extremely rare Islamic Mecca-centered world map from Safavid Persia sold for £1.86 million at Bonhams’ Islamic and Indian Art Sale in December 2023. Dating from the 17th century, it’s one of only three surviving examples and one of the finest Mecca-centered world maps.
Charting History
With their tangible representations of the past and their artistic allure, antique maps are not only treasured as cartographic treasures, but these relics of the past also hold considerable potential as investments for discerning collectors.
Collecting antique maps offers a journey through history, geography, and art. And while the accuracy of the maps might be contain a little more than their fair share of artistic license, navigating the cartographic treasures of the past reveals the history, power, and influence of the era in a delicate art form that that’s always in demand.