Rare books from Daniel Crouch Rare Books Ltd

Rome,: [Colophon:] Explicat Planisphaerium Ptholemai recognitum diligentissime a Marco Beneventano Monacho Caelestinorum quod antea in multis etia antiquis exemplaribus latinus corruptissimum reperiebantur. Nec nõ Claudii Ptholemai a plurimis uiris utriusqß linguae doctiss. emendatu cum multis additionibus Rome Novitur impressum per Bernadinu Venetu de Vitalibus. Expesis Evagelista Tossino Brixiano Bibliopola. Impante Iulio II. Pont. Max Anno. III. Potificatus sui Die VIII. Septebr M.D.VII., 1507.. Folio (403 by 275mm). 200 leaves, one of which is blank, comprising letterpress title, index, and text in double columns with 52 lines to a full column on 107 leaves, followed by one blank leaf, ornamental initials and woodcut diagrams in the text and full page woodcut "Sphaero in plano" on N1 recto, 6 leaves (of 14 of the "orbis nova descriptio" by Beneventanus normally found in the fourth (1508) edition), 34 double-page copper engraved maps on 68 leaves (one folding), and the treatise "De Locis" in 20… Read More

Rome,: Petri de Turre,, 1490.. Folio (425 by 282mm), loose endpaper/initial blank on different paper, minor wormholes to first two gatherings, occasional minor staining to margins not affecting text, very occasional manuscript annotations in faded ink, 27 double-page engraved maps, minor staining to world map, some loss to right edge of 'Quinta Asia Tabula' not affecting printed area, 'Sexta Asia Tabula' with small closed tear to title, small open tear to right edge and some brown staining, some minor brown staining to 'Decima Asia Tabula', minor wormholes to final two gatherings. Contemporary calf decorated in blind with intricate roll tool borders enclosing central diamond with woven rope motif, clasps with cross straps replaced, some areas of repair including triangular area c50-60mm to upper cover and small area to lower left hand corner of lower cover, early paper label with manuscript lettering in iron gall ink. Collation: A8 (first leaf blank) B-C8, D6 (second leaf incorrectly signed D3), E6,… Read More

[London,, 1760].. 240 mm diameter (9.5 inches).. Engraved map, fine original hand-colour, blank on verso, mounted as a fan on wooden sticks, loss to right part of map, and small loss to lower left. A very rare fan map of London. "Few art forms combine functional, ceremonial and decorative uses as elegantly as the fan. Fewer still can match such diversity with a history stretching back 3000 years. Pictorial records show some of the earliest fans date back to around 3000 BC, and there is evidence that the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans all used fans as cooling and ceremonial devices, while Chinese literary sources associate the fan with ancient mythical and historical characters. The first folding fans were inspired by and copied from prototypes brought into Europe by merchant traders and the religious orders that had set up colonies along the coasts of China and Japan. These early fans were regarded as a status symbol. While their 'montures' (i.e. sticks and guards) were made from materials such as… Read More

Marseille,, 1658.. Portolan atlas (510 by 340mm) comprising of 10 manuscript charts on vellum (six double page and four single page) pasted on thick card, coloured in ink wash and gouache throughout and heightened in gold, lavish decorative motifs on compass roses, scale bars, armorial shields and name cartouches, each chart within a simple yellow border, the outlines in sepia, main islands in gold, the rest in red, blue, green, coastlines red, blue, green and pink, rivers in blue, main names in red and the rest in brown ink, rhumblines in sepia, red and green; some typical signs of wear, particularly on the borders, resulting in some tears and losses which in some cases have been reinstated; owner label pasted to upper marbled paper pastedown, contemporary vellum binding. The portolan chart originated in thirteenth century Italy, as an aid to the pilots navigating their way across the often treacherous Mediterranean Sea. They are characterized by rhumb lines, lines that radiate from the centre in… Read More

[Los Angeles],: Freak Out Productions,, 1966.. 585 by 737mm. (23 by 29 inches).. Chromolithograph map, with image and text to verso. Frank Zappa's guide map to Los Angeles' fledgling Freak Scene, listing places for freaks to eat, drink, dance, and shop. An advertisement for the present map appeared inside the gatefold album cover of early US pressings of 'Freak Out', The Mothers of Invention's 1966 debut studio album. It states that fans interested in procuring a copy of "the special map we have prepared" should send $1.00 to MGM studios in New York City. The ad is addressed to people who are planning on visiting L.A. that summer, and it promises that the map will tell you how to get to certain 'Freak-Out Hotspots,' such as Canter's Deli and Whisky a Go Go, as well as to warn you about places "where the heat has been busting frequently, with tips on safety in police-terror situations." Given the map's great rarity, it is apparent that few people actually sent in a dollar for the map. This lack of… Read More

Berkeley,: Brown Bag Enterprises,, 1971.. 882 by 584mm (34.75 by 23 inches).. Everything needed to play Scam, including: 882 x 584mm game board printed in colours on coated stock with metal smugglers' spinner mounted at centre; colour printed paper over pasteboard spinner with metal pointer mounted at centre; 27 "Connection" cards printed on blue card stock; 24 "Paranoia" cards on red stock; 100s of square "tokens" printed in colours representing varying quantities of pot (green), hashish (brown) and cocaine (blue); 100s of sheets of ersatz money in denominations of 50-100, 1000; 4 plastic playing pieces and two tiny die. With original cardboard shipping tube and original printed paper-wrapper bearing the image of a giant joint. The rules state: "Generally Scam goes like this: you begin on the drop out of college square and keep moving around the Ave until you have collected enough money and Connections to get off the Ave. You then work The County and New York until you get enough money to put… Read More

Madrid,: Graficas Yagues, S.L. Plaza Conde Barajas,, 1959.. 1440 by 2600mm. (56.75 by 102.25 inches).. Large lithographed wall-map in 12 sheets (each sheet 480 by 650mm). A faithful full-sized facsimile of Waldseemuller's iconic 1507 woodcut map: "Universalis Cosmographia Secundum Ptholomaei Traditionem et Americi Vespucii Alioru[m]que Lustrationes", the only known example of which is now on display at the Library of Congress. Waldseemüller's map is the first to name the separate continent of the New World "America", and the first map, printed or manuscript, to depict clearly a separate Western Hemisphere and a separate Pacific ocean. Until the printing of this map the world was understood to consist of only three parts: Europe, Asia, and Africa. Martin Waldseemüller (1470-1521) was a German scholar and cartographer. He studied under Gregor Reisch at the University of Freiburg, and then moved to Basel in the late 1490s, where he met the printer Johannes Amerbach. In 1506 he moved to Saint-Dié in… Read More

Amsterdam,: Sumptibus Johannis Cloppenbergii,, Anno 1630.. 2 works in one volume. Oblong 4to., (250 by 275mm). 2 letterpress sectional title-pages, additional allegorical title-page with magnificent contemporary hand-colour in full, heightened with gold, a total of 180 engraved maps with contemporary hand-colour in outline, contemporary blind-paneled vellum over paste-board, title in manuscript on the spine. Collation: [-](4), A-I(4), K-T(4); V(4), X-Z(4), 2A-I(4), 2K-T(4), 2V(4), 2X-Z(4), 3A-I(4), 3K-T(4), 3V(4), 3X-Z(4), 4A-I(4), 4K(4)-Q(4); [4] pages, [1]-676; 'Appendix' a-f(4);[1-3], 4-[48] First edition of Cloppenburg's version of the miniature Mercator-Hondius atlas, with the 'Appendix', containing twenty-two maps. A finely coloured example, and rare as such, from the inventory of the Van Keulen family of cartographers. Including, as the last map in the 'Appendix', 'Nova Virginiae Tabula…': the first reduced version of "the first and most important derivative of John Smith's map of Virginia"… Read More

London,, [1676].. 445 by 550mm. (17.5 by 21.75 inches).. Engraved map, with contemporary hand-colour in outline and in part, a minor repair to the lower margin with some infill, close-trimmed at an early date. A "great rarity…the first map of the area we now call New England" (Burden). Published for inclusion in John Seller's 'Atlas Maritimus', 1676, although it is very rarely found with it: only one institutional example of this issue is known still bound in the atlas, at the John Carter Brown Library. King Philip's War Published at a time of heightened interest in New England and King Philip's War, Seller's map contains up-to-the minute information. Advertised by him in the 'London Gazette', in early April 1676, at the heart of the map is a dramatic scene, showing the Colonists and the local Indians firing on each other at Hadley, a battle which happened only as recently as the 1st of September, 1675. Many of the other place-names on the map are connected directly to the conflict, and were then… Read More

London, : T[homas] N[ewcombe] for R. Blome,, 1670.. 5 parts in one volume, folio (374 by 234mm), titles printed in red and black, double-page engraved folding twin-hemisphere map of the world and 24 double-page maps (the maps of N. Afria and Mediterranean joined to form one), each with original hand-colour in outline, with cartouches hand-coloured in full and mounted on guards, Ex libris Fox Pointe Collection, binding full speckled calf, spine in seven compartments separated by raised bands, gilt. Richard Blome's atlas is the first folio world atlas that was uniformly assembled in England, including its engraving, printing, and publishing. It is the first folio world atlas to be published in England since 1627 when John Speed presented Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World, which had its plates engraved and printed in Amsterdam. Blome was one of the most prolific publishers in post-Restoration London active between 1677 and 1705. He published a number of successful volumes including… Read More

Oxoniae,: E Theatro Sheldoniano,, 1675.. First edition. Folio (435 by 300mm). Engraved title-page, dedication to Charles II, preface leaf, privilege leaf dated 17 March 1672/3, double-page plan of Oxford and 39 copper-plate views, 1 folding, 38 double-page, extra-illustrated with Richard Rallingson's 'Ichnographia Oxoniae', 1648 plan of the defences of Oxford during the civil war from Anthony Wood's 'Historia et antiquitates universitatis oxoniensis', 1675, engraved index. Finely bound in contemporary and polished red morocco. Backstrip with raised bands and gilt decoration, compartments gilt panelled, upper and lower covers with double fillet outer and inner borders, centre panel with gilt lunette border, fleuron corners, a.e.g. First edition of Loggan's work with views of Oxford and the University. The first illustrated book on Oxford and one of the major works of the seventeenth century, the product of several years devoted and conscientious effort in which Loggan was assisted by his pupil… Read More

[London,: George Philip & Son Ltd.,, 1860].. Collapsible globe, eight linen gores clipped at a latitude of 80 degrees, printed by colour lithography, sewn together with metal guides at edges, extendable into the sphere by means of umbrella mechanism, housed in wooden box with original labels. "The idea of an inexpensive, portable globe for teaching had been suggested in the late 18th century. Richard and Maria Edgeworth, a father-daughter pair of educationalists, asked in their 1798 publication Practical Education: 'Might not a cheap, portable, and convenient globe be made of oiled silk, to be inflated by a common pair of bellows?' It was another forty years, however, until such a globe was first produced. Their request was answered in around 1830 with the invention of the balloon globe, an object made of fabric gores stitched together, which was inflated with an air pump. However, in 1850, John Betts designed an attractive alternative that did not require being inflated with a pump. Betts' "New… Read More

Antwerpiae,: apud Joannem Baptistam Vrient,, 1604.. 1670 by 2970mm. (65.75 by 117 inches).. Engraved map, printed on twelve sheets, above four sheet letterpress description annotated with several woodcut animals, with fine CONTEMPORARY HAND-COLOUR HEIGHTENED GOLD, trimmed to neat lines, laid on linen, extensive areas of restoration. A full conservation report is available on request. A spectacular wall map of astonishing beauty made at the beginning of the Dutch Golden Age. Cartography The present map draws on the cartography of Luis Teixeira (fl.1564-1613) - whose name appears in the large pasted title - a Portuguese cartographer from a famous mapmaking dynasty. He worked in Lisbon and the Portuguese colonies, but was also a friend of and collaborator with Dutch cartographers, contributing a map of Japan to Abraham Ortelius' atlas. Ortelius and Cornelis Claesz published five of his maps between them, and all were specifically advertised as based on his work, indicating that he was highly respected in… Read More

Florence,: Francesco Onofri,, 1646-1647.. 6 parts in 3 volumes. Folio. Complete with half-titles, vignette title-pages, and all exceptionally fine engraved maps, plates and original moveable parts: Volume I: (343 by 233mm), Part I: 56 pages, 30 plates, including 24 folding, and 20 with volvelles, [3] leaves of tables (ephemerides) Part II: 76, [2] pages, 12 plates, including 7 folding, and 5 with volvelles, 15 folding maps; Part III: [4], 1-48, [4], 49-55, 8 plates (5 folding), 4 engravings on half-page, the first after plates 2, the second after plates 4, the other two between pages 16 and 17 Part IV: 39, [3] pages, 18 plates, including 15 folding; Volume II: (478 by 343mm), Part V: 36, [2] pages, 98 plates 150 illustrations, 24 folding plates including 15 with volvelles, 67 plates with 100 illustrations only on the recto and 9 with volvelles, 7 plates with 25 illustrations on recto and verso; Volume III: (468 by 330mm), Part VI: [2], 60, [2] pages, 132 folding maps including 59 of Europe, 17… Read More

London,: John Wolfe,, 1598.. 280 by 180mm. (11 by 7 inches).. Folio (280 by 180mm), four parts in one volume, engraved title laid down, ten large double-page folding maps, and one half-page and folding, four woodcut maps in text, woodcut initials, factotums and head-piece ornaments, contemporary calf, rebacked to style. The very rare English edition of Linschoten's 'Itinerario', first published in Dutch in 1595-1596, and translated from the Dutch by William Phillip. Linschoten's 'Discours' is second only to Hakluyt's 'Principall Navigations' in being the most important collection of sixteenth century voyages in English. "This important work contains all the knowledge and learning related to the East and West Indies and navigations to those parts that was available at the end of the sixteenth century. It was held in such high esteem that for nearly a century a copy was given to each ship sailing to India as a guide to the sailing directions. The fact that most copies were in continual use is in no… Read More