Daniel crouch rare books

Talking Shop

I’ve been dealing with rare maps and atlases since I was 16 years old when I replied to an advert at a Job Centre and – with breaks for university – have never really had a ‘real’ job.

I love the stories that antique maps tell, whether as historical records, political statements, propaganda, or glimpses into people’s lives. I love that they are works of art and scientific instruments at one and the same time. Most of all, I love that they are accessible and universal: expressions of something intrinsically ‘human’ – every culture has developed a form of cartography.

We’ve been fortunate to have handled some astonishing items, including the sale of the most expensive map ever sold on the open market – the 1531 Maggiolo Planisphere (now in the Louvre Abu Dhabi); the three most expensive printed atlases ever sold – the 1477 Bologna Ptolemy, the Doria Atlas, and the D’Aragona Lafreri; and two of the five most expensive printed maps ever sold – the de’ Barbari map of Venice (sold to the Minneapolis Institute of Art in 2011), and Matteo Ricci’s 1602 map of the world (sold to the James Ford Bell Library in 2010).

My favourite current items are the world map from the Rudimentum Novitiorum of 1475 (the first printed map) – and a 1590 ivory rosary made for the Boncompagni family, whose number included Pope Gregory XIII, who commissioned the gallery of maps in the Vatican. The first two beads on the rosary are a celestial and terrestrial globe, engraved to represent the first two days of creation.

I’d advise anyone thinking of collecting antique maps to never compromise on quality: always buy the very best condition, with original colour and original bindings… and befriend a good dealer!

I learn something new every day and I get paid for my hobby, though this means I’m like a bad drug dealer, getting high on my own supply – I collect maps, prints and books on Oxford and Oxfordshire.

crouchrarebooks.com