January 8, 2025Swann
2024: Year in Review
2024 was an eventful year for Swann that brought about exciting changes, including the reorganization of our Fine Art Department, which saw Nigel Freeman step in as the head of…
Maps & Atlases (51 posts)
In this December auction we are offering a range of collectible material including regional and decorative world maps spanning 350 years of cartographic printing, beautifully engraved color plates, and more.
In the 2024 Winter-Spring season, Swann Galleries continued to provide high-quality auctions of unusual and rare material. Several single-owner collections were featured, including Illustration Art: Featuring Highlights from the Collection…
Featured in the June 13, 2024, auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books is Lot 166: Jacob Post Giraud, Jr. & Nathaniel Currier’s A Description of…
This sale is set to include a wide range of historically important and interesting material for map, atlas, natural history and color-plate book collectors across many different categories.
Swann Galleries continued to offer exceptional auctions of quality material in 2023. The year featured several collections, including a special selection of 100 works from the Stephen White collection in…
Highlights from the December 7, 2023 auction of Maps & Atlases.
Our spring Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books sale will offer an arrangement of varied material for collectors of virtually any interest and level. Material reveals the…
2022 was a historic year for Swann in more ways than one. The house celebrated its 80th year of auctions, bringing with it the 70th anniversary of the first photography…
We asked Swann maps specialist Caleb Kiffer a few questions about what to consider when purchasing an antique map. How important is the map maker when considering a map? There…
Our winter maps auction will offer a strong variety of material including collectible examples by stalwart publishers Ortelius, Blaeu, Hondius, Speed, and Munster. Plate books and graphics include works by…
The winter-spring auction season at Swann is a masterclass in marathon training, and the 2022 iteration proved no different with 20 auctions held between late January and the middle of August.
In our upcoming Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books summer sale, bidders can explore a strong selection of scarce New York City related maps and graphics, several maps of an…
As we close out another successful year at Swann we look back at our record-filled sales.
Our Maps & Atlases Specialist, Caleb Kiffer, often has the pleasure of handling rare and unique items in his sales. For example, take a look at the Charles Currier lithographic…
Maps Caleb Kiffer’s Specialist Picks for Maps: Lots 43, 74, 121, 134 & 172 Atlases & Books with Maps Color Plate & Illustrated Books Historical Prints & Drawings Caleb Kiffer’s…
When we’re cataloging and come across a certain item that seems unusual and not readily found in auction database records, dealer catalog listings, or sometimes even standard reference books, it’s…
Featuring historical prints such as those issued by Currier & Ives, and plates by John James Audubon, as well as a robust selection of antique maps and atlases.
In a year that was unlike any in our lifetimes, Swann’s specialists and staff proved to be as resilient and innovative as ever, bringing forward new and safe ways to…
The Audubon name is synonymous with art of the natural world. Most renowned for his iconic Birds of America, master naturalist John James Audubon expectantly encouraged and cultivated his two…
At Auction December 17, 2020 Previewing by Appointment Only Through Wednesday, December 16 Maps Atlases & Books with Maps Color Plate Books & Illustrations Prints, Drawings & Ephemera What You…
Our July 9 sale of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books features a strong selection of pictorial maps, including a rare example of a chart of Greenwich…
An exquisite selection of antiquarian maps and atlases, globes, color plate books, works by John James Audubon, Currier & Ives, and more.
The value of diaries on the market is largely driven by historical content and the quality of the writing. What could your diary be worth?
Swann Galleries closed out the decade with a marathon sale of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books on Tuesday, December 17. The auction brought $910,087 and saw a 93% sell-through rate. Highlights included rare cartographic publications from Hawaii, atlases from across the globe and historic prints.
Founded by Nathaniel Currier in 1835, Currier & Ives was the major poster firm of the nineteenth century. James Merritt Ives joined Currier in 1857, and the two produced some of the most popular images of the period through 1907—with the bulk of their work being done in the 1860s. Together they published thousands of prints, in three folio sizes (small, medium and large) of scenes that are still sought by collectors today.
Interesting items for all collectors feature in the sale with botanical and historic prints, plates by John James Audubon, Hawaiian and Japanese imprints, atlases and maps of nearly any destination you can think of.
Bibliophiles of every denomination—Americana, autographs, art books, archives, atlases, ephemera, literature, maps—can find their niche at Swann Galleries. Originally founded in New York as a book auction house, we hold regular specialized sales devoted to books, printed material and manuscripts.
Lewis Evans Reached $125k in Maps & Atlases Caleb Kiffer: “There was strong bidding across the board and it’s hard not to be pleased with the general outcome…
Lewis Evans’ General Map of the Middle British Colonies in America was one of the most significant and influential maps published in Colonial America. On it, Evans described the land beyond the…
At Auction June 6 Complete Catalogue Exhibition Open June 1 – June 6 The exhibition is free to attend and open to the public. We welcome special and educational groups…
Runaway Currier & Ives Print with Special Ties to Thomas W. Streeter Sets Record at Swann We closed out our fall season with a marathon sale of Maps &…
Among the many unique and impressive rarities in our December 13 Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books sale is Across the Continent, 1868, by Currier & Ives. Significant for…
Our auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books on June 7 brought to market landmarks from the history of cartography and ornithology. The nearly 400 lots…
Tucked into the top left corner of an eighteenth-century map in our June 7 auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books is a vignette that at…
At Auction June 7 This auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books encompasses a broad range of American and European cartography. Complete Catalogue Maps Highlights…
We asked specialist Caleb Kiffer to reminisce about some of the most interesting and important charts we’ve handled in the last few years. Why charts? We wanted to explore (pun…
Maps were so plentiful at our December 5 auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books that one could be forgiven for getting lost. Many buyers chose…
A historic map shows us where we’ve been, not only geographically but also in terms of the extent of our knowledge, our beliefs and even our technology. Two works coming…
At Auction December 13 Complete Catalogue Maps An example of Abraham Ortelius’s map of Iceland will be included, famously and prominently featuring one of the most beloved aspects of…
Our June 7 auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books saw strong results with multiple auction debuts and records, as well as a plethora of unique…
In January of 1819, Captain William Hodgson steered the three-masted merchant ship Transit down the River Avon from Bristol, beginning a six-month voyage toward the Mediterranean. The ship’s log book he…
Specialist Caleb Kiffer of our Maps & Atlases department on one of his favorite pieces in our June 7 auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books: a…
This post was written by Maps & Atlases Specialist Caleb Kiffer in advance of our December 8, 2016 auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books. The…
With the presidential primary election in full swing, we’re all up to our eyeballs in satirical columns and cartoons. In the spirit of the season, we thought we’d look at…
With an almost two hundred year history, the Dutch East India Company (known in Dutch as Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC), was the dominate force in European trade and navigation of Asia…
Washington, D.C., with its neoclassical architecture and grand monuments, almost seems as if it arose organically over centuries on the shores of the Potomac. In reality, the Capital City was…
For more than a century the state of California was thought to be an island. How? Misinformation by way of maps. In Mapping the West: America’s Westward Movement 1524-1890 (2002),…
The June 3, 2014 auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books is marked by a number of unique or exceedingly rare examples of cartographic material and…
Swann Galleries’ June 3, 2014 auction of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books offers an unparalleled sketch from life of the Battle of the Nile attributed to Captain James…
