Lot 122
  • 122

[Lafreri, Antonio]

Estimate
100,000 - 150,000 GBP
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Description

  • Untitled composite atlas. [Rome, c.1565] Large folio (453 x 335mm.), 46 engraved maps, most inlaid, various dates, contemporary vellum, many maps stained or creased, some maps split at joins, binding very worn (for full description of condition refer to department)
  • paoer
The mid-sixteenth century was a golden age for Italian cartography, as a disparate group of mapmakers, engravers and publishers from the two centres of Venice and Rome dominated European map publishing. The output of this group is generally given the umbrella term "Lafreri map" or "Lafreri atlas" from the Rome publisher Antonio Lafreri; however, this is to exaggerate the importance of Lafreri, who was really a printseller and retailer rather than a mapmaker. Rather, the two leading figures were Giacomo Gastaldi, the great cartographer of the period, and Paolo Forlani, the leading engraver/mapmaker of the day, both of whom worked in Venice.

Italian maps of the period were sold separately, so there is no uniformity of size or style, but latterly buyers started to have the maps bound. The lack of uniformity caused problems, as some maps had to be folded to fit; for ease, the binders tended to trim the maps to their engraved border and inlay them - adding additional paper margins to create a uniform book block. Where Lafreri is important is that he was the only retailer to add an engraved title-page to such collection - hence the term "Lafreri atlas".

These are the earliest modern world "atlases" and so very important in the history of European cartography.

Most extant atlases seem to have originated in Venice but, unusually, the core of this atlas is formed of Rome imprints and it may well be that the atlas was assembled by Lafreri himself in about 1565 (judging from the imprints), supplemented with Venetian maps not reflected in his own stock - notably Gastaldi's important maps of Italy, Arabia and southern Asia (all with their letterpress gazetteers) and Forlani's South America, and some later insertions, notably Florimi's rare map of Terre Promissionis.

This compilation is also relatively early as the majority of extant datable atlases are from 1568 onwards.

The maps in this atlas comprise:



1. [LILY, George] Britanniæ Insulæ qvæ Nunc Angliæ et Scotiæ Regna continent cum Hibernia Adiacente nova Descriptio. [Rome:] Sebastiano di Re, 1558, 400 x 545mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 271; Shirley, British Isles, I, 63 (pl.32)

2. SALAMANCA, Antonio. [Untitled map of the world on a double cordiform projection]. Rome: Antonio Lafreri, [c.1564], 325 x 515mm., inlaid
Shirley, Mapping Of The World, 91; Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 2

3. [LAFRERI, Antonio] Hybernia nunc Irlant. [Rome, c.1560], 335 x 245mm.
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 318

4. [DEVENTER, Jacob van] Gelriae Cliviae Iuliae nec non aliarum regionum adiacentium... Rome: Michele Tramezini, 1558, 500 x 385mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 232

5. [DEVENTER, Jacob van] Brabantiae Belgarvm Provinciae recens exactaqve descriptio... Rome: Michele Tramezini, 1558, 510 x 400mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 143; Karrow, Mapmakers, 25/1.2

6. LIGORIO, Pirro. Totius Galliæ Descriptio, cum parte Angliæ, Germaniæ, Flandriæ, Brabantiæ, Italiæ, Romam usque... Rome: Michele Tramezini, 1558, 390 x 515mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 208

7. [TSCHUDI, Aegidius. Untitled map of Switzerland] Iodoco à Meggen Lucernati Praetorianorum Praefecto Ant. Salamanca .S. Heluetios olim uir clariss. nunc Suiceros... Rome: Antonio Salamanca, 1555, 440 x 610mm., wide margins
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 534

8. [MERCATOR, Gerard] Flandriae recens exactaq, descriptio... Rome: Michele Tramezini, 1555, 385 x 515mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 198



9. [DEVENTER, Jacob van] Hollandiae Batavor. veteris insvlae et locorvm adiacentivm exacta descriptio... Rome: Michele Tramezini, 1558, 520 x 380mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 299

10. [BOILEAU DE BOUILLON, Gilles] Galliæ Belgichæ... Rome, 1558, 350 x 495mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 131; Karrow 1993, 12/22.1



11. [LAZIUS, Wolfgang] Nova Descriptio Totivs Hvngariæ... Rome: [Antonio Lafreri?], 1559, 455 x 380mm., inlaid, State 1, with Pecs denoted by a symbol, without name
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 307



12. [ANTHONISZ., Cornelis] Septemtrionalium Regionum Suetiae Gothiae Norvegiae Daniae et terrarum adiacentium recens exactaq[ue] descriptio... Rome: Michele Tramezini, 1558, 395 x 530mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 40; Karrow 1993, 6/8.2.



13. [DEVENTER, Jacob van] Frisiae Antiovissimae Trans Rhenvm Provinc. et adiacentivm regionvm nova et exacta descriptio... Rome: Michele Tramezini, 1558, 495 x 390mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 218.



14. GASTALDI, Giacomo. Il Disegno de Geografia Moderna del Regno di Polonia, e parte Del Ducado di Mosouia, con parte della Scandia, e parte de Sueuia... Venice, 1562, 395 x 525mm., inlaid, southern part of a two-sheet map of Poland, but complete in its own right
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 453; Karrow 1993, 30/96



15. LILY, George. Nova Germaniæ Descriptio. Cum Adiacentibus Italiæ Galliæ Britanniæ Poloniæ et Pannoniæ partibus... Rome: Michele Tramezini, 1553, 465 x 710mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 252; Karrow 1993, 30/7.1



16. [GASTALDI, Giacomo. Untitled map showing the western course of the Danube, the Western Balkans and Gulf of Venice]. Venice, 1559, 350 x 510mm., inlaid, this map was also used as the north-western of a four-sheet map of the Balkans
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 25; Karrow: Mapmakers Of The Sixteenth Century, 30/86 (pl. 30/86)



[Un-numbered text leaf]. [GASTALDI, Giacomo. A letterpress index leaf  to accompany Gastaldi's map of Italy. Venice, 1564], 490 x 330mm., the second leaf is bound after map 40
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 331; not described in Bifolco and Ronca, but cf. Tav. 5 for the accompanying map (here map 40).

17. [FORLANI, Paolo. Untitled map of Tuscany] En candidi Lectores, elegantioris Italiæ partis, Tusciæ scilicet Topographiam... [Venice], 1564, 390 x 495mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 568; Woodward, Maps And Prints Of Paolo Forlani, 34: attributing the engraving to Forlani; Karrow 1993, 10/1.7; Bifolco & Ronca, tav. 89, state 1.



18. Anonymous. ILBA siue ILVA, insula, est im mari tusco... [Rome: Antonio Lafreri?, c.1560], 270 x 195mm., wide margins
Unrecorded in Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases; Bifolco & Ronca, tav. 101: attributed to Claudio Duchetti, Lafreri's successor.



19. GASTALDI, Giacomo. Geographia particolare d'una gran parte dell'Europa, nouame[n]te descritta co[n] i confini suoi, e prima uerso leua[n]te é il meridiano di consta[n]tinopoli, e da po[n]ete il meridiano della mag:ca cita di venetia, et da tramo[n]tana il parallelo di vienna in Austria, e uerso Ostro il parallelo che passa per il mezzo dell'Isola di Candia... Venice, [1559], 485 x 430mm., on two sheets joined. the south-western (and title-sheet) of Gastaldi's four-sheet map of southern Europe, this sheet shows southern Italy & Sicily, and while part of a set, it is generally bound separately in atlases as a single-sheet in its own right. It is a companion to map 16.
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 28, 280 & 81; Novacco, 68 (ill.); Karrow 1993, 30/87.



20. [GASTALDI, Giacomo. Untitled map of Sicily. Rome: Antonio Lafreri, c.1560], 370 x 490mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 519; Karrow: Mapmakers, 30/2.4; Bifolco & Ronca, tav. 138, state 1

21. [GASTALDI, Giacomo] Cirnus siue Corsica insula. [Rome?, c.1560], 300 x 200mm., wide margins
Unrecorded in Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, but cf. [169] printed from a different plate



22. [GASTALDI, Giacomo] La Descrittione della Prima Parte dell'Asia. Con i nomi antichi et modernij... Rome: Antonio Lafreri, 1561, 430 x 735mm.
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 48; Karrow, Mapmakers, 30/85.1.



[Un-numbered text leaf]. GASTALDI, Giacomo. I Nomi Antichi et Moderni della Prima Parte dell'Asia... Venice, 1564, letterpress leaf, 490 x 335mm., with a gazetteer for Gastaldi's map of the 'Prima Parte'
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 52

23. GASTALDI, Giacomo. Il Disegno della Seconda Parte dell'Asia... Venice, 1561, 475 x 745mm. on 2 sheets joined
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 54; Karrow 1993, 30/91.

[Un-numbered text leaf]. GASTALDI, Giacomo. I Nomi Antichi et Moderni della Seconda Parte dell'Asia... Venice 1564, letterpress leaf, 490 x 335mm., with a gazetteer for Gastaldi's map of the 'Seconda Parte'
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 50

24. GASTALDI, Giacomo. Il Disegno della Terza Parte dell'Asia... Venice, 1561, 480 x 735mm. on two sheets joined
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 61

25a. FORLANI, Paulo. L'Isola Cuba è piu sette[n]tio[n]al della Spagnola. [Venice, 1564], 2 maps in one page, 175 x 250mm., wide margins
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 90; Woodward, Maps And Prints Of Paolo Forlani, 29.01; Karrow: Mapmakers, 30/61.1



25b. FORLANI, Paulo. L'Isola Spagnola una delle prime che Colombo trouasse, hoggi è detta L'Isola di S. Dominico, el' habitano Spagnoli... Venice, 1564, 2 maps in one page, 185 x 255mm., wide margins
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 84; Woodward: Maps And Prints Of Paolo Forlani, 30; Karrow: Mapmakers, 30/6.2

26. GASTALDI, Giacomo. Untitled map centred on Greece. Venice, [c.1560], 490 x 535mm., printed on two pieces of paper, the second state of the plate, with the original title erased for use as the south-eastern sheet of Gastaldi's four sheet map of southern Europe
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 28 & 280

27. LAFRERI, Antonio. Nuouo disegno dell'Isola di Malta et suoi forti, con li Isola di Comino, Gozo, et altre Isole vicine... Rome, 1565, 380 x 450mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 377

28. SALAMANCA, Francesco. Graeciæ chorographia. Rome, [c.1562], 410 x 620mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 284; Karrow 1993, 71/1.5

29. ANONYMOUS. Creta Insula, hodie Ca[n]dia, in medio po[n]to sita est... [Venice?, c.1570], 280 x 205mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 177



30. FORLANI, Paolo. La descrittione di tutto il Perv. [Venice, c.1562], 515 x 365mm., an early printing, inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 93; Woodward, Maps And Prints Of Paolo Forlani, 11; Woodward, Paolo Forlani, map 3

31. PINARD, Hughes. Urbis Romae descriptio. Rome: [Antonio Lafreri], 1555, 525 x 762mm., damage along old folds, without the Lafreri imprint at the end of the engraved key
Unrecorded in Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases

32. ANONYMOUS. Antvverpiae Civitatis Belgicae toto orbe cogniti et celebrati emporii simulacrum. [Rome?, c.1570], 330 x 435mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 110



33. ANONYMOUS. Bologna in Francia, [no place, c.1550], 295 x 440mm., inlaid, Boulogne was captured by the English in 1544, and besieged by the French until its fall in 1550
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 140.



34. VICO, Enea. [Untitled bird's-eye view of the Siege of 'Perpignian', with 'Carcasona']. [Rome?], 1542, 215 x 335mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 445



35. ANONYMOUS. Il Vero Disegno del Sito di Hostia E di porto con li forti fatti dal campo di sua santita et delli Imperiali. [Rome: Antonio Salamanca], 1557, 285 x 385mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 426; Bifolco & Ronca, tav. 117



36. RE, Sebastian de. Il Vero Disegno dI Vicovaro occupato da Imperiali et recuperato dalla Chiesa a di XIII Febraro. M. D LVII. [Rome], 1557, 270 x 390mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 594.



37. MUSIS VENETIANO, Agostino. Untitled map of Tunis and Environs. [Venice], 1535, 260 x 370mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 556



38. ANONYMOUS. Il vero disegno di Thionville 1558. [Rome?], 1558, 285 x 410mm., inlaid
Unrecorded in Tooley.



39. ANONYMOUS. Untitled bird's-eye view of 'Civitella' besieged by 'Squizeri', 'Italiana', the 'Duca de Guisa' and 'Guasconij'. [Rome?, c.1557], 300 x 390mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 154



40. FLORIMI, Matteo. Totius Terre Promissionis a Dan usque Bersabee verissima et amplissima descriptio... [Siena, c.1600], 435 x 655mm., on two sheets joined, inlaid, one of the largest and rarest of Florimi's small output of maps



[Un-numbered text leaf]. [GASTALDI, Giacomo. Letterpress leaf with a gazetteer for Gastaldi's map of Italy (map 44). Venice, 1564], 490 x 335mm., this is the second leaf (the first is bound after map 16, see above)
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 331.



41. LAFRERI, Antonio. Melita Insula, quam hodie maltam uocant... Rome, 1551, 320  x 460mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 373

42. GASTALDI, Giacomo. Untitled map of South-Eastern Europe. [Rome: Antonio Lafreri?], 1560, 355 x 515mm., inlaid, the north-eastern sheet of Gastaldi's four sheet map of south-eastern Europe, this is the second state, with Gastaldi's imprint erased, but prior to the insertion of Lafreri's
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 27; Karrow, Mapmakers, 30/86.1



43. [FORLANI, Paolo] Nova Discrittione dela Dalmatia et Crovatia, M.D.LXV. Venice: Ferrando Bertelli, 1565, 285 x 415mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 188; Woodward: Maps And Prints Of Paolo Forlani, 40: attributing the engraving to Paolo Forlani.

44. GASTALDI, Giacomo. Il Disegno della Geografia Moderna de Tvtta la Provincia de la Italia con le sue regioni, citta, castella, mo[n]ti, laghi, fiumi, mari, golfi, porti, capi, et isole. Venice, 1561, 540 x 765mm., inlaid, a landmark map in the mapping of the Italian peninsula, damage to old folds
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 328; Borri, Italy, 37 (ill.); Meurer: Fontes Orteliani, abb. 30.; Bifolco & Ronca, tav. 5



45. [LAFRERI, Antonio]. Regionis subalpinae vulgo Piemonte appellatae discriptio, aeneis nostris formis excussa. [Rome, c.1560], 515 x 400mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 446; Karrow 1993, p.229; Almagia: Monumenta Italiae Cartographica, pl.XVIII: attributing the map to Lafreri; Bifolco & Ronca, tav. 40



46. LAFRERI, Antonio. Lombardia. Venice, 1564, 305 x 470mm., inlaid
Tooley, Maps In Italian Atlases, 352; Bifolco & Ronca, tav. 25

Condition

the condition of this lot is as described in the catalogue description
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."