From 11 to 18 April 2024, Antiquarian Auctions will feature a selection of scarce maps and charts of the African continent, Southern Africa and surrounding oceans – a preview commences on 5 April.

In the 1960s R.V (“Mick”) Tooley the famous London dealer, set about helping David Schrire, a South African living in London, to assemble a comprehensive collection of maps of Africa. Schrire’s collection formed the basis of Tooley’s Map Collectors’ Series of pamphlets and then his seminal Collectors Guide to Maps of the African Continent and Southern Africa. The collection has been untouched until recently.

The maps are being sold ... Read more

Plan du Cap de Bonne Esperance et de ses Environs ... par M^r. de ****

Fig 1. Plan du Cap de Bonne Esperance (Published with permission of Geographicus Fine Antique Charts)

During the publication history of Plan du Cap, changes were made on the plate to the shape, toponymy and ocean depths of False Bay (Figure 2). All the three states of the copperplate were engraved and signed by Guillaume de la Haye.

Figure 2. False Bay in the 3 states of Plan du Cape de Bonne Esperance. 1^st state left: 1754 – 1767, not in ... Read more

Vandermaelen and his atlas

Philippe Vandermaelen (1795-1869) was the son of the wealthy soap manufacturer; he abandoned the soap trade and devoted his life to cartography. Entirely self-taught in geometry, astronomy and the geosciences, he began drafting the first sheets of an Atlas universel in 1824. This atlas was published between 1825 and 1827; it was sold in forty instalments of ten maps each and became a great success. The revenue enabled him to set up his own Etablissement géographique de Bruxelles in 1830, which not only produced maps, atlases and globes in large quantities but also housed a natural science museum, botanical ... Read more

This article is taken from The Times on the 6th of July 2016.

A rare first edition of “perhaps the best and most famous of the South African travel books” is expected to fetch at least R90 000 at an auction.

When William Burchell’s two volume Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa was published in 1822, only 500 copies were printed, and few have survived in pristine condition.

Other copies have sold for R100 000 and the book is sought after for its hand-drawn maps and hand-coloured illustrations depicting a South Africa long before the age of Instagram.

Burchell was the first European to describe ... Read more

From Antiques Trade Gazette, 14 May 2016

Mirroring the trend of the general online luxury goods sector, the 'virtual' trade in art and antiques has more than doubled in three years, according to the findings of the fourth Hiscox report.

Fuelled by the expansion of a number of online platforms, the report says online sales in 2015 have reached an all-time high at $3.27bn (up from $2.62bn in 2014 and $1.57bn in 2013) prompting Hiscox to predict further growth of 24% this year.

The wider luxury goods sector has grown 27% year-on-year since 2009.

A total of 672 buyers were surveyed for the report through ArtTactic's mailing list. Of these, 10% said they ... Read more

By Angelika Elstner
(first published on the blog of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers)

What a wonderful start to the day - the sun was shining after Cape Town had turned into a true "Cape of Storms" yesterday afternoon and we had started to wonder if anyone would brave the weather and come to see us at the Irma Stern museum. Yes they did - and they probably would have done so too in the pouring rain.

On a beautiful sunny autumn morning - we welcomed over 60 guests at one of Cape Town's most beloved museums to talk about one of the most famous explorers, William Burchell who is still largely unknown in his home country ... Read more

The Log of HMS Bounty by Lieutenant William Bligh, the captain’s record of his voyage to the South Seas, will be one of the books and maps on offer at the online auction of AntiquarianAuctions.com starting on April 14.

Other lots of interest include William Burchell’s map of the extratropical part of Southern Africa, in which “his own track is laid down entirely from the geographical and astronomical observations made” during the naturalist’s extensive journey in Southern Africa from 1811-15.

This first edition was ... Read more

Paul Mills, director of AntiquarianAuctions.com, and Susan Bucanan, author of Burchell’s Travels - The Life, Art and Journeys of William John Burchell, were interviewed on Fine Music Radio promoting a charity event on World Book Day, 23 April 2016. Listen to the complete interview below.

On Saturday April 23, 2016 rare book dealers will focus world attention on rare books and associated materials. At this time, when UNESCO and many others throughout the world celebrate literacy, ILAB book dealers will once again run a worldwide 24 hour campaign to promote the trade and to raise money for literacy projects.

“The purpose of ILAB’s participation in World Book and Copyright Day is to spotlight rare books and bookselling while raising money for what is at the very foundation of all we do - literacy”, says Norbert Donhoffer, President of ILAB.

After a successful launch in 2015, AntiquarianAuctions.com, will participate once again ... Read more

From 1811 – 1815 William John Burchell travelled extensively in southern Africa ‘for the purpose of acquiring knowledge’. He was a remarkable English ... Read more