Bloomsbury’s Maps and Atlases sale on 27th March has several surprises; the overall mood has been sluggish, but now it seems that buyers are waking from their hibernation. Even the traditionally ‘sticky’ German maps, for which most had given up hope, all sold at Bloomsbury, indicating that perhaps their unpopularity might be cyclical.

The biggest surprise was the very large 24 sheet Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster and Borough of Southwark by John Rocque c 1749. This handsome, privately owned map (lot 377), aroused considerable interest and finally sold to a private collector for a world record £13000, well over its estimate of £5000-7000.

The famous and extremely rare Atlas Celeste or Celestial Atlas by John Bevis of 1786 (lot 7) was also privately owned; it had caused a stir prior to the sale thanks to the extensive editorial in The Times. This was first map to show the planet Uranus and a depiction of a star that is no longer visible in the constellation Sagittarius. This fine example of celestial cartography finally sold for £21000, well over its estimate of £12000-18000. The two maps by Ptolomaeus (lots 30 and 31) both sold for comfortably over the estimates at £3200 and £9000 respectively. There were two particularly charming items in the sale, lot 32 and lot 269. The former was a mid 19th century French Atlas Geographique (lot 32) which constituted a boxed puzzle of 20 cubes to form six maps: double-hemisphere world, Europe, Africa, Asia, Americas and France, which made £320, over three times the lower estimate. The other lot was an amusing late 18th century Map of the Various Paths of Life from Parental Care Hall, via Discreet County, Steady Plains and Serenity Province…or via Careless County Bad Man’s Land and Distress Borough to Despair Gulph and Bottomless Pit. This was keenly fought over and it eventually fetched £1000 (estimate £100-150).

www.bloomsburyauctions.com

Posted: 04|1|08 at 2:54 pm. Filed under: UK News.