RAMUSIO, Giovanni Battista. [First Printed Townplan of an American Settlement]
La Terra de Hochelaga nella Nova Francia. Venice, 1606. Woodcut, printed area 275 x 360mm.
This is the first map to detail any North American settlement, identifying the site of present-day Montreal.Sailing up the St Lawrence River in 1534 Jacques Cartier reached the Huron-Iroquois settlement of Hochelaga, in an area he named Mont Real in tribute to the French king Francis 1. He descibed the settlement as about 50 bark-covered longhouses and tells that the Indians welcomed them, squatting in rows before them as if 'we were going to give a play.' Cartier was then called upon to heal the village's sick. Here the central plan is flanked top and bottom by diagrams of the balustrade showing the construction, with woods and cornfields around the village. The name Montreal makes its first appearance on a printed map. This is an example of the second of two blocks, cut in 1565 after the first block was destroyed by a fire in the printing house of Thomaso Guinti after only a year's use. The title is split by the map This 1606 edition is recognisable by the pagination numbers "380.2º' and '380.3º', and evidence of woodworm damage to the printing block. KERSHAW: 16, plate 9.
[Ref: 7454]    £700.00 ($1,078 • €847 rates)

BRAUN, Georg & HOGENBERG, Frans. [Early plans of Mexico City and Cusco]
Mexico, Regia et Celebris Hispaniæ Novae Civitas; Cusco, Regni Peru in Novo Orbe Caput. Cologne, 1572-, Latin text. Coloured. 270 x 475mm. Two small holes in the printed area, restored. Signs of a crack in the printing plate affecting sky of 'Mexico'.
Two early 'map-views' on one sheet, showing Mexico City and Cusco, the capital cities of the Aztecs and Incas, with the major buildings shown in profile with little consideration for perspective. In the foreground of each are illustrations of Aztec and Inca figures. The plate was published in the 'Civitates Orbis Terrarum', the first series of printed town plans, a monumental six-volume work published 1572-1618. KOEMAN: B&H 1.
[Ref: 7368]    £1,200.00 ($1,848 • €1,452 rates)

RAMUSIO, Giovanni Battista. [Cusco]
Il Cuscho Citta Principale Della Provincia del Peru. Venice, 1606. Woodcut, printed area 270 x 370mm. Centerfold tear restored.
A bird's-eye view of the now European city of Cusco, published in Ramusio's 'Raccolta di Navigationi et Viaggi'. This example was printed from the second block, cut in 1565 after the first was destroyed by a fire in the printing house of Thomaso Guinti after only a year's use. The 1606 edition is recognisable by evidence of woodworm damage to the printing block and the pagination numbers '344.2º' and '344.3º'.
This item is currently on reserve

BARROW, John. [A Detailed Chart of Macao]
A Plan of the City and Harbour of Macao, A Colony of the Portugueze situated at the southern extremity of the Chinese Empire London, George Nicol, 1796. Coloured. 740 x 560mm.
A large chart of Macao published in George Staunton's 'An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China', Britain's first official embassy to China. The town is shown in detail, with a 37-point key in English listing Forts, Parishes, Colleges, Covents, Chapels and other buildings of interest including the Customs House and the English Factory. Lord Macartney was the first British ambassador to China, arriving in 1793 and ordered to leave the same year. However in the short time the embassy was in the country much was learned about China, and the groundwork was laid for the founding of Hong Kong less than fifty years later.
[Ref: 10554]    £1,500.00 ($2,310 • €1,815 rates)

FONTANEY, Jean de. [Nagasaki]
Nangasacki appellé par les Chinois Tchangki. Paris, Sens & Gaude, 1810. 140 x 225mm. Minor creasing, small rust spot in margin.
A later varient of de Fontaney's map of Nagasaki, engraved by Canu. The Jesuit missionary never visited Japan and based the map on information he received from Chinese Merchants. This accounts for two major errors: he placed the Bay of Nagasaki at the mouth of a river; and he placed the Dutch trading post in the city when it was on an artificial island. See WALTER: Japan 94 for the original.
[Ref: 8310]    £120.00 ($185 • €145 rates)

SCHEDEL, D. Hartmann. [Incunable Prospect of Baghdad]
Babilonia seu Babilon. Nuremberg, 1493, German text edition. Woodcut, image 145 x 225mm, set in a page of text. Some slight browning.
An imaginary view of ancient Baghdad from the famous 'Nuremberg Chronicle'.
[Ref: 9126]    £280.00 ($431 • €339 rates)

AA, Pieter van der. [A Scarce Townplan of Goa]
Goa Indiæ Orientalis Metropolis. Leiden, Pieter Van Der Aa, c.1719, 330 x 460mm.
A detailed townplan of Goa showing the protective harbour and surrounding hills, with a key identifying areas and buildings of interest. After the map published in Jansson's 'Townbooks', which was itself a reduction of the plan from Linschoten's 'Itinerario'.
[Ref: 10582]    £450.00 ($693 • €545 rates)

MALLET, Alain Manesson. [Goa]
Goa. Paris, 1683. Coloured. 150 x 110mm. Small wormhole in wide margin.
Plan of Goa, after Linschoten, published in athe 'Description de l'Univers'.
[Ref: 8678]    £90.00 ($139 • €109 rates)

Anonymous. [The Battle of Cuddalore]
Plan de la bataille de Goudelour, donnée le 13 juin 1783 entre l'armée française commandée par Mr. le marquis de Bussy et l'armée angloise. Paris, Dezauche, c.1783, original colour, 400 x 485mm. Dissected and laid on linen as issued.
A very interesting map showing the troop positions during the Siege of Cuddalore (Goudelour) the Second Mysore War.The British decided to retake Cuddalore from the French who had captured it in 1782 with the help of their ally Hyder Ali as part of an ongoing struggle for dominance over lucrative trade in India. The British army marched south from Madras, and, circling around the city, encamped to its south. The British fleet, the 18 ships of the line under Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, anchored advantageously to the south of Cuddalore in order to protect the army and its supply ships and by early June 1783 the siege was under way. The French responded by sending a fleet under the command of Bailli De Suffren to lift the siege and a naval encounter and battle between the fleets ensued which ended in a mutually agreed suspension of hostilities, when news of an Anglo-French peace treaty reached them.
[Ref: 11020]    £620.00 ($955 • €750 rates)

SCHEDEL, D. Hartmann. [Incunable Prospect of Jericho]
Hiericho. Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger, 1497. Latin text edition. Old mss. text highlighting. Woodcut, printed area 90 x 140mm, set in a page of text.
An imaginary view of Jericho, published in a small folio edition of the 'Nuremberg Chronicle'. Despite the eight editions (one possibly as late as 1604) fewer of these were printed than the Nuremberg original. A rare incunabule. LAOR: 1126.
[Ref: 8982]    £100.00 ($154 • €121 rates)