This beautiful double hemisphere world map reflects the masterful blending of art and science that characterizes the Golden Age of Dutch cartography. Executed in a rich color palette, Nova Totius Terrarum combines the full range of Baroque allegorical artistry with cutting edge scientific knowledge of the day. A note on America indicates Christopher Columbus’s 1492 discovery, and the 1499 naming for Amerigo Vespucci. The four elements are represented allegorically in the four corners of the image, with Apollo representing fire, Selene representing air, Poseidon representing water, and Demeter representing earth. At the bottom, a vignette shows personifications of India, America, and Africa—all offering tribute to crowned and enthroned Europe. From sea monsters and allegorical figures to early geography of the Northwest Coast and Canada, this piece exemplifies the best of the early maps by Dutch cartographic masters. The present example of Henricus Hondius’s “New Map of the World” is representative of the second state from 1641. This map is known to come in four distinct states, as distinguished by the dates on the map (cartouche at bottom right) and Amstelodami Excudit Ioannes Ianssonius added at the bottom.
Henricus Hondius (1597–1650). Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula. (Amsterdam: 1641). Published in Atlas Contractus of Jan Jansson and in sea atlases of Van Loon. French text verso: Discription de l’Univers. Double page copperplate engraving with superb hand color. Image: 14 3/4 x 21 1/4″. Archivally framed in period style, gold leaf frame with silk wrapped mat and Optium Plexiglas. Overall gorgeous presentation. Very good condition. $18,000.
Abraham Ortelius (1528–98). Chinae, Olim Sinarum regionis, nova descriptio. Auctore Ludovico Georgio (cartographer). (Antwerp: 1598). Published in Ortelius’s Theatrum, 1584. Sometime between 1588 and 1595 the inscription “Las Philippinas” appeared above “SINVS MAGNVS” (second state). Copperplate engraving with rich hand color on heavy paper. 14 ¼ x 18 ½” to neatline; sheet: 16 5/8 x 21 3/8”. Dutch text on verso. Binding tab on verso with minor separation at the lower portion. Full margins, rough edge along lower margin with small tear. Verso text shows through, along left margin. Minor toning, some marginal spotting. Overall, very good condition. $8,000.
Abraham Ortelius’ important map of China was the first to appear in a European Atlas. Compiled by Ludovico Georgio (Luiz Jorge de Barbuda, a Portuguese Jesuit), this map remained the standard for the interior of China for over sixty years. Oriented to the west, this map shows the limits as being the Great Wall of China in the north and Cauchin China in the south. Five immense lakes were placed in the interior, one forming the western boundary of the country. When this map was published, it was by far the most accurate representation of China to appear on a printed map. Japan is shown on a curved projection reminiscent of Portuguese charts of the period with Honshu dissected along the line of Lake Biwa. The Great Wall is shown, but only a small section, its length is significantly underestimated. With its three lushly designed cartouches and many illustrations of elephants and deer, Tartar yurts, ships and sea monsters and a number of wind carriages for sailing on land, this is one of Ortelius’s richest engravings from his most important atlas.
This rare, double-hemisphere map of the world by Cornelius Danckerts has only recently been recorded by scholars. If the published date of 1648 is correct then this map is among the first to show both of Abel Tasman’s voyages (1642 & 1644) which were initially kept secret by the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch explorer was the first to reach New Zealand, the islands of Fiji and Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) and the charting of much of the north coast of Australia. Highlights include California shown as an island, Japan is unfinished in the north and in the North Atlantic, near Greenland, is the mythical island of Frisland. Between the geographic hemispheres are smaller circles. The one near the top is labeled as the Polus Arcticus, but it shows the sun as the center of the universe. At bottom, the Polus Antarcticus assumes that the earth is the center of the universe. In the corners are vignettes showing angels, cherubs, chariots, and griffins in the sky. The bottom left depicts Poseidon in the sea, while the bottom right shows a landscape filled with the bounty of the earth.
Cornelis II Danckerts (1664-1717). Orbis Terrarum Typus De Integro In Plurimis Emendatus Auctus, Et Icunculis Illustratus [Tasman Discoveries]. (Amsterdam: 1648). Uncolored. 12 5/8 x 18 5/8” at neat line with full margins; sheet: 17 ½ x 20”. Plate mark is visible. Mild overall toning; a pinpoint hole appears in the upper margin. Very good condition. $4,800.
A very fine chart map of Malta and Gozo with an inset map of Valletta. This beautiful map exhibits all the coveted characteristic of its era. The decorative details include several naval battle vignettes, a Maltese coat of arms, and three grand cartouches: the mileage scale, the baroque frame surrounding the Valetta plan, and the main title cartouche featuring Maltese naval figures and ships with cannons firing. Ships shown in the Mediterranean are rigged with lateen sails, a rectangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. This map is a fine example of the map-making art of the seventeenth century.
Jan Jansson (Johannes Janssonius) (1588-1664) Insulae Melitae Vulgo Malte Nova et accurate Descriptio. (Amsterdam: ca. 1650). This rare map appeared in Jansson’s ‘Waterereld’ sea-atlas, first published in 1650 as the fifth volume of his ‘Novus Atlas’. Double page text on verso. Fine original hand color on heavy paper. 14 1/8 x 20 1/8″ at neat line with full margins. Sheet size: 19 3/4 x 23 1/8″. Overall, excellent condition with extraordinary old color. $4,500.
Frederick de Wit (ca. 1629–1706). Insula sive Regnum Siciliae Urbibus praecipuis exornatum. (Amsterdam: ca. 1680). Copper engraving with hand color. 19 1/2 x 23″ at neatline. Sheet: 20 1/4 x 23 1/2″. Strong impression on heavy paper; a few minor fox marks at upper right and one fox mark each in the lower right insets; evenly toned on verso. Very good condition. $2,500.
This spectacular map of Sicily by Frederick de Wit contains many decorative elements. It shows in detail the important port cities and their fortifications, including Messina, Palermo, Catania, Trapano and a plan of Milazzo. Mount Aetna, one of Europe’s most active volcanoes is shown prominently within the Catania inset and then again in the map itself. The map is highly detailed showing settlements, villages, fortresses and castles, cities and ports. The topography of the island is rendered in detail with river systems, mountains, volcanic features, and forested areas delineated. The map is beautifully embellished with a variety of sailing vessels. The title cartouche features a scroll held in place by putti, while a second cartouche includes information regarding contributors to the map. Three of the insets include lists of place names describing important architectural highlights. A decorative compass rose embellishes the map in the middle of the Sea of Sicily.
Acapulco was one of the most important ports on the Pacific Coast of Mexico and a major port in the Manilla Galleon Trade. This view shows the Spanish stronghold of Acapulco including outlying buildings, fortifications, geographical features with numerous ships docked in the harbor, Spanish tradesmen and laborers. John Ogilby was an English geographer and publisher, one of the most prominent of the seventeenth century, even though he didn’t enter into geography until the last decade of his life. In 1669 he began planning to release atlases that would cover the entire world. In 1671, the same year the America atlas was produced, Ogilby was awarded the royal title of his Majesty’s cosmographer.
John Ogilby (1600-1676), Portus Acapulco. (London: 1671). Publisher: Arnoldus Montanus, Germany. Copperplate engraving on thin paper. Black and white as originally published. 11 3/8 x 13 7/8” at neat line; 12 1/8 x 13 7/8 sheet. Platemark is visible with adequate margins. Light soiling along upper margin, two spots of soiling in left and right margins, and printers’ wrinkle in the same area. Binding tab on verso is visible. Very good condition. $750.
John Senex (1678-1740). A New Map of America from the Latest Observations. (London: D. Brown, 1721 [1719]). Published in A New General Atlas, Containing a Geographical and Historical Account of all the Empires, Kingdoms, and other Dominions of the World. Engraved by I. Harris, Fecit. Dedicated to the Earl of Berkshire, Deputy Earl Marshal of England. Printed by Daniel Browne 1721. Copperplate engraving with faint original outline color. Uncolored cartouche as issued. 19 1/8 x 22″ at neatline. Sheet size: 20 5/8 x 24 1/8″. Full margins; slightly light strike in lower corners; minor repairs on verso; nice oxidation of outline color on verso. Generally, very good condition. $2,200.
This exceptional display of America by John Senex highlights many engaging cartographic details including the depiction of California as an island, the mention of San Antonio as a settlement, and a spectacular cartouche design. Published in A New General Atlas, California as an island is shown just off the western coast of the continent in the Pacific Ocean. With the mainland continuing further north, many fascinating points are discovered. These include the location of the mythical North Sea, or The Great Lake of Thoago or Thoya, which was based on the voyage of Juan de Fuca in 1592. De Fuca described his discovery of a great inlet that came to the North Sea, and countries rich in gold, which can be seen in the map offered here by the notation of Coronado’s Quivira, one of the main rumored cities of gold. The misinformed location of the Mississippi River in the example displayed here is based on the mapping of North America by Vincenzo Maria Coronelli, which is delineated further west in the middle of present-day Texas. The place name San Antonio appears just east of what was called the Rio Grande by Juan de Oñate in 1598. This in turn could be the first mention of the settlement on a map, which was founded by the Spanish in 1718, just a year before the present document was created. Notoriously located within the territory of New Mexico, or New Grenada, are the fabled 7 Citties of Gold that were sought after by Francisco Coronado. Silver mines in the northern region of New Spain note the source of additional treasured metals. This impressive example of the Americas by renowned cartographer John Senex would make an outstanding addition to any collection that is focused on the Western Hemisphere.
This is an important early detailed map of the interior part of North America, including California as an island. It is one of four large maps of North America by Herman Moll, which distinguished him as the leading English mapmaker of the early eighteenth century. Moll’s map followed the publication of Delisle’s seminal map of 1718, of Louisiana and the Mississippi Valley. It is an enlarged version of Carte de la Louisiane et cours du Mississipi and strikes out against the vast French territorial claims indicated in Delisle’s map. As noted by William P. Cumming:
Moll calls upon the English noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants interested in Carolina to note the ‘Incroachments’ of the French map on their ‘Properties’ and on the land of their Indian allies. The map presents details of the Southeast found in no other printed map. The chief source of this information is a large, unsigned, undated manuscript map in the Public Record Office, from which Moll took much information on trading paths, Indian tribes, French, Spanish, and English forts and settlements, rivers, and other topographical data.
Moll was best at coastal geography, depicting with some accuracy the coastal features, barrier islands (e.g. Padre Island), and identified rivers emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. The rivers often continue deep into the interior, where there is less detail, but Moll does indicate various Indian tribes, along with the “Silver Mines of Caouila”: in northern Mexico. There are multiple notations of mines and silver mines in Mexico and North America. Spanish Galleon routes navigate through the Gulf of Mexico and into the straits of Florida. Moll’s maps are filled with his observations, opinions, and knowledge and these notations make the maps special and very personal, compared to other maps of this period.
Herman Moll (ca. 1654–1732). A New Map of the North Parts of America Claimed by France. (Cornhill: John and Thomas Bowles, 1720). Published in The World Described, or A New and Correct Sett of Maps. . . . Large format engraved folding map on two sheets joined. 24 1/8 x 40″ to neatline. Sheet: 25 x 41 1/8″. Original outline color, minor surface soiling, restoration along folds and some marginal repairs on verso but otherwise very good condition. $8,500
Guillaume Delisle / Covens & Mortier. Les Isles Britanniques ou font le Royaumes d’Angleterre Tiré de Sped, Celuy d’Irland Tiré de Petti, Le tout Rectifié Par Diverses Observations Par G. de l’Isle… [The British Isles encompassing by the Realm of Great Britain drawn from Speed, that of Ireland from Petti, the whole rectified from diverse observations by G. Delisle] (Amsterdam: Covens & Mortier, ca. 1730–42). Double-page copperplate engraving with original outline hand color. 18 1/8 x 22 1/2″ to neatline. Sheet: 20 3/4 x 25 1/4″. Very strong impression with bright color. Even toning, light soiling – mostly marginal. Repaired marginal separation. Fine condition. $975.
This beautiful map of Great Britain provides a fascinating study of the British Isles in the early eighteenth century, during the reign of King George II. The large decorative title cartouche features Neptune, storks, fishing nets, and mermen riding hippocampi. The decorative distance scale cartouche is flanked by hunting dogs. Guillaume Delisle’s map of Great Britain would go on to serve as a model for many other mapmakers to follow. The Dutch firm of Covens & Mortier copied and published many of Delisle’s maps, giving full credit to the famous mapmaker, as in the present example.
Lizars’ map shows Mexico’s administrative districts as Intendencies (Intendencias) and Internal Provinces (Provincias Internas) dating from the Spanish era. His depiction of the area that became Texas is surprising to modern viewers because his map further exaggerated some of the cartographic errors of his predecessors and contemporaries: particularly, a southerly “dip” of the middle Red River and the southerly courses of the Trinity, Brazos, and Colorado Rivers (which actually flow southeasterly). Settlements shown include Nacogdoches, “St.” Antonio, and “Loredo”. Interestingly, Lizars included the “British Territory” that became British Honduras or Belize. British logging settlements existed in the territory by the late eighteenth century even though the British government had been hesitant to create a colony for fear of provoking the Spanish. The map covers present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and southwestern United States. Bodies of water include the Bay of Honduras, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific Ocean, Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez), and other rivers and streams. Mines are distinguished with an X, and topography is shown on the main portion of the map.
W. H. Lizars (1788-1859). Mexico & Guatimala. (D. Lizars, Edinburgh, ca.1831). Published in the Edinburgh Geographical and Historical Atlas. Hand colored engraved map. Relief shown by hachures. 15 5/8 x 19 1/8″ to neatline. Sheet size: 18 1/4 x 21 1/4″. Plate mark is visible. Full margins. Overall, excellent condition. $895.
The Territory of Wisconsin was established in 1836, and “The Entire Territory of Wisconsin” is shown here in the inset map. The present example is a very rare early edition of the map. A revised edition also appeared in 1838 (Philadelphia: Henry J. Abel), and is more common, although also rare. The later edition shows Iowa Territory as it was established west of the Mississippi in 1838, effectively reducing the area of Wisconsin Territory. The present map shows the larger extent of Wisconsin Territory as it existed for a brief period from 1836 to 1838. The inset map shows the original extent of the territory which also includes parts of present-day Minnesota, Iowa, and North and South Dakota. Most of the territory however is indicated as Indian lands. Also indicated and separately colored is “Carver’s Tract” (as claimed by a group of the explorer Jonathan Carver’s descendants).
James Hamilton Young (1793-ca. 1864). Map of the Settled Part of Wisconsin Territory Compiled from the Latest Authorities. (Philadelphia: Hinman & Dutton, 1838). Pocket map with bright original full hand color on banknote paper. 22 3/8 X 17″ at border. Sheet: 22 7/8 X 17 1/2″. Inset map, upper left, “The Entire Territory of Wisconsin.” Presented with original embossed leather cover with gilt titling. Issued folding. Map has a bit of soiling at top; toning at folds; fold separations with 2″ tear upper center. All are professionally repaired and backed with archival tissue. Very good. $8,000.
S. A. Mitchell and J. H. Young. The Tourist’s Pocket Map of the State of Tennessee. (Philadelphia: S. Augustus Mitchell, 1839). Neatline: 12 ½ x 14 7/8”; Sheet: 12 ¾ x 15 1/8”. Very good condition with exceptional high-quality original color on onion skin type paper. A little wear at some fold intersections. SOLD
Mitchell and Young’s rare pocket map of Tennessee exhibits the state’s internal improvements. It includes an 1830 Tennessee Census pasted to the inside front cover of the booklet. Two insets on the map show vicinities of Knoxville and Nashville. There are tables of stagecoach and steamboat routes at the bottom of the map along with roads and distances between towns. The prime meridian is Washington D.C. The pocket book cover is stamped black leather, titled and embossed in gilt “Mitchell’s Map of Tennessee”. Inside front cover: “Tennessee Census, 1830.” In excellent condition.
This superb map of Tennessee shows the state in the 1850s as well developed with many towns, an impressive network of roads, and several rail lines. Counties are colored separately. The inset maps indicate the commercial importance of Nashville and Knoxville. In addition to the cotton industry, Tennessee was an important provider of iron by mid-century.
The land, which produced the agricultural wealth of Tennessee during its early years, has likewise been the foundation of much of its industrial wealth. Some of Tennessee’s earliest industries were founded on iron. In East Tennessee small forges and boomeries, supplied by crude mining operations, were turning out bar iron, nails, and tools as early as 1785. But the iron resources of the State were not extensively exploited until coal was discovered. Tennessee iron was soon being shipped to Louisville, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh, where it was in demand for the manufacture of steam engine boilers. Further expansion came when railroad transportation was made available in 1854. By 1860 a total of 75 boomeries and forges, 71 furnaces, and four rolling mills were in operation. (Tennessee; a Guide to the State, compiled and written by the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Projects Administration for the State of Tennessee, 1939.)
Charles Desilver / Samuel Augustus Mitchell (1792–1868). A New Map of Tennessee with its Roads and Distances from Place to Place Along the Stage and Steamboat Routes. (Philadelphia: Charles Desilver, 1856–57). Published in A New Universal Atlas. Lithograph with full original hand color. 11 3/8 x 15 3/8″ to decorative border. Sheet: 13 3/4 x 17 3/8″. Inset maps: “Environs of Nashville,” u.l.; “Environs of Knoxville,” u.r. Key to railroads, roads, and towns, l.l. Tables of distances and steam boat routes, l.r. Minor creasing, upper margin. Very fine condition. $500.
Jeremiah Greenleaf. Oregon Territory. (Brattleboro, Vermont: G. R. French, 1842 [1840]). Published in A New Universal Atlas. Copperplate engraving with bright, full, original hand color. 10 3/4 x 12 3/4″ at neat line. Sheet: 12 1/4 x 14 5/16 “. Excellent condition. $1,500.
The present map includes borders and separate coloration for the Oregon Territory, Mexico (present-day California), and British Possessions. A dispute over possession of the Oregon Territory between the U.S. and Great Britain continued until 1846, when the final border was resolved with the Oregon Treaty. From 1839 to 1842, the earliest emigrants arrived via the Oregon Trail, followed by the Great Migration of 1843. Noteworthy details on the present map of 1842 include forts, settlements, river systems and topography of what are now Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. The locations of Indian tribes are indicated, including a reference to “Friendly Indians.” The fine engraving and lovely coloration in this map create an elegant image of Oregon Territory during a period when it represented the frontier of American expansion to the Pacific coast.
These volumes present a summation of Henry Wagner’s extensive researches on the cartographic history of the North American coast from Cabo San Lucas to Alaska. They contain a masterly essay tracing the evolution of cartography with respect to this coast, a critical list of some 900 maps, a list of place names now in use, another of obsolete place names, a bibliography, indexes, and reproductions of forty of the more interesting maps.
Henry R. Wagner. The Cartography of the Northwest Coast of America to the Year 1800.
2 vols. (Berkeley: University of California Press 1937. Vol. I, xi-270 pp. Vol. II, v – 273 pp. Maps and bibliography. Limited first edition of 750 copies. Housed in original publisher’s slipcase; volume II in dust jacket. A valuable reference guide to the maps of the northwest coast. Volume I contains the historical survey of the cartography and is illustrated with 40 reproductions of maps (12 of which are folding). Volume II contains a list of the maps with physical descriptions, notes and location of the original of each map, as well as an index and bibliography. $850.
H. R. Page. Map of Washington Ter., (Chicago: H. R. Page & Company, 1883). Published in Illustrated Historical Atlas of Wisconsin, pp 70–71. Double-page lithograph with original full hand color. Inscribed lower right, “Copyrighted 1883 by H.R. Page & Co.” On verso, “Guide to WA Territory” and vignettes. Sheet: 17 17/32 x 26 15/16″. Strong impression; some minor ink spots (appear to be original) on verso and on front; marginal toning upper center; minor tear repaired lower center. $1,800.
Page’s historic map of Washington records the territory six years before it entered the Union in 1889 and is perhaps the largest hand-colored map of the territory to appear in an atlas at the time. The sizes of the colored counties are good graphic indicators of settlement patterns, with the smaller counties having denser populations. Perhaps one half of the territory has been divided into township grids, which roughly follow the railroads, and reveal the progress of government surveys. Towns, major roads, and waterways are greatly detailed while indications of topography are vague, but do include the major peaks of the Cascade Mountain Range. Three very large areas in the northeast are indicated as Indian Reservations. Many other, smaller reservations also appear on this map.
Containing a wealth of accurate and detailed information, this map features the independent Republic of Texas and the United States, one of the very few maps titled so. Typical of English maps of this period, the map is densely engraved with information including a network of roads and trails, built and proposed railways, operational and proposed canals, and lighthouse locations. Texas is shown with its borders extending from the Rio Grande to the Arkansas River and west into New Mexico just past Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos. A note in the lower left corner announces the dates of foreign recognition of independent Texas: The Independence of Texas was formally declared in March 1836. It was recognised by Great Britain in Novr. 1840; and has been acknowledged by the United States, France, Holland and Belgium. Johnston’s map likely dates to 1844, the year in which Secretary of State John C. Calhoun sponsored a treaty for the annexation of Texas. The treaty failed, but annexation finally occurred in March 1845.
Alexander Keith Johnston. United States and Texas (Edinburgh: W. & A. K. Johnston, 1842-1844). Published in National Atlas of Historical, Commercial and Political Geography. Steel-plate engraving with original outline hand color. 19 3/8 x 24″ to distinctive piano key border. Sheet: 21 1/8 x 25 3/4″. Inset map and description, upper left: “Sketch of the River Niagara.” Very clean, strong impression with bright color. On heavy paper with light toning along the sheet edges and light scattered foxing at bottom. Very good condition. $4,800.
James C. Martin & Robert Sidney Martin. Maps of Texas and the Southwest, 1513-1900. For the Amon Carter Museum, published by University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM 1984. First Edition. Hardcover. New, still in original shrink-wrap. $475.
Fifty maps collected for this volume represent many of the most historically significant maps of Texas and the Southwest from 1513 to 1900. Detailed descriptions of each map provide the reader with an appreciation of the progress of exploration, the science of cartography, and the art of printing. Illustrated and indexed. Authored by Robert Sidney Martin, Professor and Lillian Bradshaw Endowed Chair, School of Library and Information Studies, Texas Women’s University, and J. C. Martin, Interim Director of the Texas State Historical Association.
Showing a strong resemblance in shape to the John Arrowsmith Map of Texas (1841-43), the map offered here illustrates the important region of Texas during its transitional time between the Republic period and statehood. This wonderfully detailed and charming hand-colored map displays the full extent of Texas’ claims all the way north along the Rio Grande into what is present day Colorado that was included within the state until the Compromise of 1850. The progress of settlement in the state during the mid-nineteenth century is evident in this map with the appearance of roads and towns concentrated in the east. County names are delineated creating a strong graphic representation of the densely developed eastern part of the state contrasted with the more expansive counties to the west. Highly detailed information includes stagecoach roads, railroads, towns, rivers and forts. Some of which include the legendary Fort Alamo, Fort Leavenworth, and Bents Fort located just north of the Santa Fe Trail. The map also shows adjacent parts of New Mexico and a vast expanse of Indian Territory to the north, in which a number of Native American tribes appear, such as the Arrapahoes, Cheyennes, Shawnees, and Choctaws. Mountains across the state are shown in hachures that delineate elevation change by using short parallel lines to indicate the steepness in a topographical gradient. Completing Mitchell’s view of the region are forested areas, towns, population figures, and famous battle markers. Most notable is his depiction of the City of Dallas, this being its first ever appearance on a Texas map.
Samuel Augustus Mitchell (1792–1868). Map of the State of Texas. (Philadelphia: Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co., 1846). Published in Mitchell’s School Atlas: Comprising the Maps, Etc., Engraved to Illustrate Mitchell’s School and Family Geography. Lithograph with original period hand color.
10 1/2 x 8″ at neatline; sheet: 11 5/8 x 9 1/4″. Full margins. Minor fox mark at upper right. Stitch holes along right margin. Slight soiling along margins. Very good condition. $850.
Henry Darwin Rogers (1808-1866)/Alexander Keith Johnston (1804-1871). Territory of New Mexico. (London: John Murray, 1857) Published in Atlas of the United States of North America. Engraving with fine bright original outline hand color. 12 15/16 x 16 1/4″ at neat line. Sheet:
14 1/2 x 17 25/32″. Even age toning; slightly weak centerfold at top margin. Excellent condition. $3,500.
Rogers and Johnston are known for the incomparable detail given to their maps of the southwest. Both men of science, the mapmakers rendered these maps on a uniform scale, which is quite rare. As a result, this beautiful map is one of only a few published maps that show the Territory of New Mexico by itself. Here, New Mexico Territory encompasses present-day Arizona and parts of Colorado and Nevada. Details are beautifully rendered and include the locations of Native American tribes, settlements, forts, rivers, springs, topographical features, and the locations of gold, silver and copper mines. Purple lines drawn on the map are identified as the “Proposed Pacific Railway Routes” below the title block. Rogers and Johnston no doubt made use of the landmark Parke-Kern map of the territory published in 1851, along with updated information from the many new public surveys that followed the Gadsden Purchase of 1853–54. The area purchased forms the southwestern portion of New Mexico Territory below the Gila River and east to the Rio Grande. The Gadsden Purchase was made specifically to allow for a southern transcontinental railroad. In their map of New Mexico, Rogers and Johnston trace the various proposed routes through the newly-acquired land. Because of ensuing debates over slavery, the Southern Pacific was actually delayed until after the conclusion of the Civil War.
This superb map of the New Mexico Territory is the official survey prepared by the General Land Office in 1907. The GLO issued individual territorial and state maps as accompaniments to annual reports showing the disposition of federal lands in the public domain. The present map is a highly graphic edition, with Forest Reserves, Indian Reserves, Military Reserves, and Private Land Grants distinguished in bright colors. The map is filled with information on watersheds, mountains, railroads, wagon roads, unsurveyed townships, etc. Published five years before New Mexico became a state, the present map depicts the limits of railroads and the extent of public land surveys, which are indicated by grids and remain incomplete at the time. Early county divisions add further interest to this historical document. Land grant claims in New Mexico have been controversial from their origins in both the Spanish (1598–1821) and Mexican (1821–1846) periods in the state’s history. In 1854, six years after New Mexico came under the jurisdiction of the United States, the federal government established the office of the Surveyor General of New Mexico to ascertain the validity of the land claims under the laws of Spain and Mexico and to make recommendations to Congress regarding the justification of those claims. Information from the Surveyor General’s office was posted to the G.L.O. maps, and the validity of certain claims continued to be reviewed well into the twentieth century. This map makes an excellent addition to any collection featuring New Mexico and the settlement of the American West.
General Land Office (1812-1946). Territory of New Mexico Compiled from the Official Records of the General Land Office and Other Sources Under the Direction of I.P. Berthrong, Chief of Drafting Division G.L.O. (Washington, D.C.: Andrew B. Graham Co., 1907). Department of The Interior General Land Office Richard A. Ballinger, Commissioner. Color photolithograph. 22 1/2 x 17 3/4″ to neatline. Sheet: 22 1/2 x 19 1/2″. Issued folding. Bright and clean; faint fox mark upper right corner. Excellent condition. $900.
O.W. Gray. Atlas Map of Texas. (Philadelphia: 1873). Published in Gray’s Atlas of The United States, with general Maps of The World. Lithograph with original bright hand color. 11 7/8 x 14 7/8″ to neatline. Sheet: 14 ¼ x 16 5/8.” Image extends beyond neat line at upper and lower margins. Toning typical for this style of map; minor chip at upper left corner; misfold at upper right; minor repair lower left. Verso: Map of Arkansas. Very good. $900.
Made for the 1873 Grays Atlas of the United States with General Maps of the World by O.W. Gray. A striking decorative map of Texas, hand colored by counties. Texas is still dominated by the large western counties of Bexar, Young Territory, Pecos, El Paso and Presidio. Bright pastel hand coloring, fine detailing and simple lined border complete the maps within this atlas. This is an exceptional map of Texas showing counties, cities, rivers, lakes, creeks, railroads, mountain ranges, routes and trails. Young Territory is illustrated and noted in the panhandle area. Two inset maps are included illustrating the Plan of Galveston Bay, and the Plan of Sabine Lake.
Warner & Beers’ fantastic County Map of Texas and Indian Territory offers a scarce view of this rapidly developing region along with important notations documenting the various tracts of land assigned to many Native American tribes. Texas is shown as being heavily developed in the eastern portion of the state as seen through the multiple county delineations. The western half of the state is divided up into large, sparsely settled districts and territories that include Young Territory, Bexar District, El Paso, and the newly created Pecos County (created from Presidio County). Surprisingly enough, a very rare and unique appearance of the proposed Wigefarth County is shown in the lower Panhandle along the border of Indian Territory. However, this county name is misspelled on the present map and should be spelled as Wegefarth. It was named after Conrad Wegefarth who was a German-American oil refiner and the President of the Texas Immigrant Aid and Supply Company. The county’s boundary line is only partially engraved, with the northern border defined by hand coloring. Wegefarth County was only in existence from 1873 to 1876 when the Texas Legislature created fifty-four new counties in the Panhandle region. This is perhaps the only known map that depicts this rare county. Indian Territory borders the state of Texas to the north and is shown in the appropriate configuration of present-day Oklahoma. It is divided up into multiple tracts of land that have been assigned to various Indian Nations such as the Cherokees, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Pottawatomie, Sac and Fox, and the Seminoles. Topographical features are shown, along with roads, rivers, forts, and railroads.
Warner & Beers/H.H. Lloyd. County Map of Texas and Indian Territory. (Chicago: Warner & Beers, 1875). Published in H.H. Lloyd and Company’s Atlas of the United States, p.79. Lithograph with full, original bright hand color. 16 x 13 5/8″ to decorative border. Sheet size: 18 1/2 x 15 1/2.” Minor chip extreme lower right. Binding punctures left margin. One tiny fox mark upper left. Excellent condition. $1,250.
Joseph Hutchins Colton (1800-1893). “Texas,” (New York: J.H. Colton, 1856 [1855]). Published in Atlas of the World. Lithograph with original hand color. 12 9/16 x 16” to decorative border. Sheet: 16 x 18 9/16″. Two inset maps in l. l. corner: “Plan of Galveston Bay” and “Plan of Sabine Lake”. Very minor fox stains in margin at top; stain l.l.; marginal age toning. Blank verso indicating early edition. Very good condition. SOLD
This is the only map of Texas published by J.H. Colton on a single sheet. Colton followed this version with the first double-page map of Texas, which became the dominant format for his publications. In both productions, Colton incorporated important revisions made by De Cordova, the rights to which Colton had purchased in 1855. Notable additions in the present map include the huge proto-counties of Presidio and El Paso in the southwestern part of the state, as well as the two insets in the lower left corner: Plan of Galveston Bay, and Plan of Sabine Lake. This map shows Texas before the Civil War erupted. After some dispute about the capital moving to Houston more than a decade prior, Austin City remains the capital of the state of Texas.
This extremely rare, privately issued map of part of Indian Territory was bound into the Constitution of the State of Sequoyah, a document prepared by the Five Civilized Nations as application for U.S. statehood in 1905. Drafted by D. W. Bolich, the map represents a revision of its first appearance in 1902. A note on the left side of the present map indicates that its county divisions were updated by the Sequoyah Statehood Convention for publication in the constitution. Sequoyah comprised the eastern half of present-day Oklahoma and was the remnant of what previously had been Indian Territory. The western half of Indian Territory was designated Oklahoma Territory in 1890, and its officers included many experienced politicians who were likely to dominate government should the two territories be combined to form a state. Leaders of the Indian nations apparently recognized this possibility and moved to apply for statehood independently. According to Streeter, the 1905 application for the State of Sequoyah
. . . was an attempt by the Five Civilized Tribes and some white inhabitants of Indian Territory to forestall the creation of one state out of Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. The convention met at Muskogee, 21 August 1905, and the constitution worked out by a committee of fifty was adopted 8 September. It was submitted to popular vote in the 7 November 1905 election, and carried by an overwhelming vote. All this was to no avail, for the act creating the present state of Oklahoma became law 16 June 1906. This is one of the cases in our history . . . where a separate region seeking statehood and adopting a constitution was finally denied statehood by Congress. The map is of great interest. It divides the Indian Territory into nearly fifty counties but very few of the county names or even the boundaries can be found on today’s map of that part of Oklahoma.
The proposed state of Sequoyah received its name from the great Cherokee statesman and inventor of a written form for the Cherokee language. Sequoyah worked to create a united government among Cherokee tribal factions upon their relocation to Indian Territory in 1839. Oklahoma entered the Union officially in 1907 and, as the Indians feared, it absorbed the remains of Indian Territory in the process. At that time, Oklahoma retained the names of 20 of the 48 counties from the State of Sequoyah, including the county of Sequoyah on the eastern border. These county names are all that remain of the valiant American Indian effort to retain its own political entity on par with the rest of the Union.
Gast & Co. State of Sequoyah [Indian Territory] (St. Louis: Augustus Gast Bank Note and Litho. Company, Map Publishers, 1905 [1902]). Published in the Constitution of the State of Sequoyah (Muskogee, I.T.: Phoenix Printing Co., 1905). Present. Lithographed map in full original color.
16 1/4 x 14 3/4″ at neat line. Sheet: 17 3/4 x 15 7/8.” Issued folding. Some repairs in upper left quadrant and upper and lower margins. Backed on tissue. Very good condition. Constitution booklet has minor repairs on a few text pages. Handsomely bound, titled and embossed in gilt on spine. Very good condition. $7,500.
Karl Bodmer (1809–1893). Herds of Bisons and Elks on the upper Missouri. Tableau 47 from Travels into the Interior of North America (Paris, Coblenz and London: 1839-1842). First state, German edition. Aquatint and etching by Ch. Vogel after Bodmer on vellum paper with superb original color. Highlighted with gum Arabic. Original black rule around image. Blindstamp: CH. BODMER Del. Image size: 10 1/4 x 12 5/8″. Plate mark:
14 x 16 1/2″. Sheet size: 17 5/8 x 24 1/2″. Beautiful example of one of Bodmer’s best landscapes. Excellent condition. SOLD
From 1832 to 1834 Swiss artist Karl Bodmer accompanied the Prussian naturalist Alexander Philipp Maximilian, Prince of Wied-Neuwied, to America as illustrator on an expedition to the upper Missouri River country. The expedition was an unprecedented scientific endeavor to record in detail the landscape, natural history, and aboriginal life of the American wilderness frontier. Maximilian engaged Bodmer to provide a visual record of his investigations, which were principally focused upon the Plains Indians. The artistic product of the two-year adventure far outlasted its anthropological purpose however. Going beyond the precedent set by Thomas McKenney and George Catlin, Bodmer painted the people and places of frontier America with sensitivity to individual character and an accuracy of ethnographic detail that is considered unsurpassed.
This engraving was completed using a few sketches and one watercolor Bodmer had done while at Fort Union in June 1833. The figure on the left is unidentified. This is unusual–there are only a few portraits in which the subject is anonymous. The central figure is Pitätapiú. In his journal Maximilian describes Pitätapiú as a “remarkable figure… In his hand was a bow lance, as high as a man and draped with long bands of grizzly bear intestines smeared with reddish paint. On his back this slender young man carried a round shield which was painted green and red…” Pitätapiú was a member of the Gens des Roches tribe (Stone Indians). Ref: Elizabeth Guheen, Bair Museum
Karl Bodmer (1809-1893) Assiniboine Indians, 1839. Tableau 32. From Travels in the Interior of North America [Paris: A. Bertrand and Colbenz, J Holscher; London: Ackermann & Co., 1839-1843] Aquatint, mezzotint, etching and stipple; hand colored. Image: 16 ¼ x 11 1/2″. Sheet size: 22 1/4 x 17 1/2″. Bodmer blind stamp. Gum Arabic visible. Even toning; some scattered spots; one area of minor soiling at upper right. Very good condition. $9,500.
George Catlin (1796–1872). “Buffalo Hunt, Chase.” Folio plate no. 5 from Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio. Hunting Scenes and Amusements of the Rocky Mountains and Prairies of America. (London: Day & Haghe, 1844 [1845]). Deluxe edition. Lithograph with superb original hand color. Plate trimmed and mounted on card with manuscript ruled line around image and manuscript numbering lower right of image (as issued in the Deluxe edition). Image: 12 x 17 1/2″. Burl wood frame with French matting: 21 1/4 x 27″. Strong impression, bright color, light scattered foxing. Very fine condition. $9,500.
In this picture we have the Indian mounted on his wild horse… [showing] the mode in which the Indian generally approaches the Buffalo, always on the right (or off side) of the animal, that he may throw his arrow or strike with his lance, to the left…. usually… when the animal and the horse are at the fullest speed; and most often, as is this case, when the hunter had forced his victim from the herd, when he pursues it with less danger to himself and the horse. – George Catlin
A young lawyer turned portraitist, George Catlin traveled west from his home in Pennsylvania in 1830 to fulfill his dream of recording on canvas the North American Indians and their way of life. It was his desire, he said, to paint “faithful portraits of their principal personages, both men and women, from each tribe, views of their villages games, etc., and [to keep] full notes on their character and history. I designed, also, to procure their costumes, and a complete collection of their manufactures and weapons, and to perpetuate them in a Gallery Unique, for the instruction of the ages.”
The War Dance, or ‘dance of the braves’, is peculiarly beautiful … At intervals they stop, and one of them steps into the ring, and voiciferates[sic] as loud as possible, with the most significant gesticulations, the feats of bravery which he has performed during his life…. and at the same time carries his body through all the motions and gestures, which have been used during these scenes when they were transacted. At the end of his boasting, all assent to the truth of his story… and the dance begins again. – George Catlin
George Catlin (1796–1872). War Dance. Folio plate no. 29 from Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio. Hunting Scenes and Amusements of the Rocky Mountains and Prairies of America. (London: Day & Haghe, 1844 [1845]). Deluxe edition. Lithograph with superb original hand color. Plate trimmed and mounted on card with manuscript ruled line around image and manuscript numbering lower right of image (as issued in the Deluxe edition). Image: 10 7/8 x 16 1/2″. Burl wood frame with hand-decorated mat: 21 1/2 x 27 1/8″. Strong impression, bright color, light scattered foxing. Very fine condition. $9,500.
George Catlin (1796–1872). North American Indians. Folio plate no. 1 from Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio. Hunting Scenes and Amusements of the Rocky Mountains and Prairies of America. (London: Day & Haghe, 1844 [1845]). Deluxe edition. Lithograph with superb original hand color. Plate trimmed and mounted on card with manuscript ruled line around image and manuscript numbering lower right of image (as issued in the Deluxe edition). Image: 17 1/2 x 13″; Mount: 23 ½ x 18 3/8”. Strong impression with rich color; overall toning. Very good condition. $9,500.
The group in Plate No. 1 is composed of three Portraits representing three different tribes. An Osage Warrior, his head shaved and ornamented with a crest made of deer’s tail and horsehair; his robe made of buffalo’s hide; his necklace made of the claws of the grizzly bear; his bow and quiver slung upon his back, and his leggings fringed with scalp locks taken as trophies from the heads of enemies slain by him in battle. An Iroquois from a northern climate, with long hair; a ring in his nose, and headdress of quills and feathers, with tomahawk in hand, and his dress indicating the changing nature of tribal society. A Pawnee Woman, in primitive dress made entirely of skins. In this as well as in dressing the head and ornamenting the person, illustrate the characteristic differences of the various tribes.
In the early nineteenth century, Prince Maximilian of Wied, Germany traveled the Missouri River to uncover what he called “the natural face of North America” — its landscapes, flora and fauna, and native inhabitants. Among his small party was artist Karl Bodmer (1809–1893), who would prove to be one of the most accomplished and prolific artists to visit the American frontier. Bodmer and Maximilian traveled more than 2,500 miles together, spending time among Mandan, Hidatsa, Omaha, Otoe, Pawnee, Yankton, Assiniboine, Plains Cree, Siksika, Piegan, Kainai, and Gros Ventre communities. Bodmer’s watercolors of the people he met remain among the most compelling visual accounts of the American West, an invaluable record of the Missouri River’s indigenous communities. The first publication to focus on Bodmer as a portraitist, Faces from the Interior includes essays examining his artistic practice, the international dissemination of his images, and the ongoing significance of his work to indigenous communities.
Faces from the Interior, The North American Portraits of Karl Bodmer. Published by Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, April 2021. 224 Pages, 9 x 11.5 in, 120 color illus. Hardcover. New, in shrink-wrap. $50.
Arnold Rönnebeck (1885-1947). Rio Grande Cañon, New Mexico. 1925. Original pencil study for the lithograph, Rio Grande Canyon, New Mexico, 1931. Image size: 8 7/8 x 11 3/4″. Signed, titled and dated lower left: “Rio Grande Cañon, AR, 1925” Very good condition. $4,500. or $8,000. for both the drawing and lithograph.
In the summer of 1925, Rönnebeck traveled to Taos, New Mexico to visit his friend Mabel Dodge Luhan at her artist’s enclave. The visit had several important consequences including exposing Rönnebeck to the high desert landscape and the indigenous peoples of New Mexico, which subsequently became recurrent themes in Rönnebeck’s work. This original pencil study for his popular lithograph, Rio Grande Canyon, New Mexico, 1931 has the same orderly geometry to the surrounding mountains and mesas of the Rio Grande Gorge just south of Taos. As Ronnebeck applies the tenets of modernist abstraction to his interpretation of the Rio Grande Gorge, he conveys the sweeping grandeur of this particular vantage point in which the river appears to be flowing through a giant crack in the earth.
Initially trained as a sculptor at the Berlin Royal Art School, the German-born lithographer Arnold Rönnebeck (1885–1947) brought a sculptural vigor to his landscape subjects in two dimensions. A robust three-dimensionality underlies the lithograph offered here, in which the artist imposes an orderly geometry upon the canyon walls and surrounding mountains of the Rio Grande Gorge just south of Taos. As Rönnebeck applies the tenets of modernist abstraction to his interpretation of the Rio Grande Gorge, he conveys the sweeping grandeur of this particular vantage point in which the river appears to be flowing through a giant crack in the earth (geologically speaking, the formation actually is a crack known as the Rio Grande Rift). He underscores the drama of the landscape through bold alternations of light and dark patterns.
Arnold Rönnebeck (1885-1947). Rio Grande Canyon, New Mexico. 1931 lithograph in black and white. No. 20 of 50. Image size: 9 1/2 x 14″. Sheet size: 11 1/2 x 15 3/4″. Signed and dated by the artist in pencil l.r. margin: “Arnold Rönnebeck, 1931.” Titled and numbered in pencil l.l. margin: “Rio Grande Canyon, New Mexico #20/50”. Excellent condition. $4,500. or $8,000. for both the drawing and lithograph.
Carl von Hassler (1887–1969). Autumn in San Matao [sic] Mateo, 1941. Oil on canvas. 23 x 27 3/4″. Signed lower left. Original wood frame, 30 x 34 ½ x 1 3/4″. Very good condition. $18,000.
Autumn in San Mateo is a prime example of Carl von Hassler’s ability to capture the moods of the land as it changes through the seasons. Strong fall color and light are captured beautifully in this traditional landscape painting. Cottonwood trees dominate with leaves that seem to shimmer and rustle in the wind. Lured by the beauty of the New Mexico landscape, von Hassler became a master of traditional realistic landscapes that captured the simplicity and humility of the area in rich plein air paintings. He was especially interested in conveying the vibrant range of colors that transform New Mexico during seasonal changes. He is quoted as saying,
“Nature is a great teacher. To be a truly good artist, one has to be first a naturalist. Each area presents its own background and feeling. Arizona is quite different from New Mexico. Our state is very different from Colorado — and so it goes. Unless you get the feel of a place, your painting will lack strength and beauty.”
Born in Germany of French and Dutch parents, von Hassler came to New Mexico through a fascinating journey. He first studied painting at a naval academy in Kiel, Germany where he was free to travel for seven months of the year, and so spent these months studying art at the influential Düsseldorf Academy and privately with some of Europe’s finest artists. While still in the navy, he made his first trip to the United States. He often stated that he had been inspired to visit America in 1903 when the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show came to his hometown of Bremen, vividly recalling his first acquaintance with the American cowboys, Indians, and horses as the show disembarked in the harbor. His interest in the American Southwest never diminished.
Gene Kloss (1903–1996). Corn Dance at Taos Pueblo, 1943. Etching, edition of 50. Image: 2 5/8 x 5 1/4″. Titled l/l: Corn Dance at Taos Pueblo; Signed l/r: Gene Kloss. Strong impression. Excellent condition. $4,500. or $8,000. for both miniatures.
This rare miniature etching is one of Gene Kloss’s jewels. She only produced two and is quoted as saying, “I’ll never do this again.” This small etching depicts the Corn Dance at Taos Pueblo with the Pueblo in the background and the dancers moving in unison in the foreground. Above the towering mountain range, the darkened skies of a New Mexico rain storm provide contrast to the light that the Pueblo and the dancers are bathed in. Taos Pueblo is a UNESCO World Heritage site that has been occupied for some 1,000 years.
Gene Kloss certainly holds an equivalent position as master of the etching and aquatint. A native of California, Kloss enjoyed an exceptionally long and productive career, spanning eight decades from the mid-1920s until the early 1990s. She produced over 600 etched plated and hand pulled every print herself. Her earlier prints, particularly those of the 1930s and ‘40s, are highly prized for their beautiful, soft gradations of tone and sophisticated compositional sense. Kloss was the only etcher employed by the W.P.A. in New Mexico, and she produced nine prints for the program in 1933–34, all of which are now eagerly sought after by collectors. . . Ceremonial scenes of northern New Mexico’s Pueblo and Hispanic communities remained Kloss’s primary subject matter throughout her career. —David Clemmer, Serenading the Light: Painters of the Southwest
With an extraordinary touch, Kloss’s range of grays and velvety blacks through the use of light and heavy marks are seen in this small etching. Her mastery of atmospheric perspective, shape, contour and the drama of lights and darks is another fine example of her vivid prints recording northern New Mexico Pueblo ceremonial dances – a time of reunion and spiritual revival.
Gene Kloss (1903–1996). Saints Day at Santa Clara Pueblo, 1943. Etching, edition of 50. Image: 2 5/8 x 5 1/4″. Titled l/l: Saints Day at Santa Clara Pueblo; Signed l/r: Gene Kloss. Strong impression. Excellent condition. $4,500. or $8,000. for both miniatures.
Leon Rene Pescheret (1892–1971). San Xavier, Arizona, 1945. Colored etching. 9 3/4 x 12″ platemark. Signed, l.r. “Leonard Pescheret,” titled in plate, l.l., “San Xavier Arizona.” Heavy paper. Framed. Very good condition. $2,500.
A renowned historic landmark, San Xavier del Bac is the oldest intact Spanish colonial building in Arizona, constructed between 1783 and 1797. Its Catholic mission was founded in 1692 by Father Eusebio Kino. The mission is south of Tucson, in an area that became U.S. territory in 1854, with the Gadsden Purchase. Pescheret’s 1945 depiction of San Xavier reveals the hand of a trained architect, as well as some artistic license in the figures’ clothing, which harkens back to an earlier period. Pescheret’s subjects encompassed American and European urban and rural scenes, historical buildings, landscapes, and seascapes. He operated his etching studio in Whitewater, Wisconsin from 1933 until 1967, and his colored etchings were extremely popular. Leon Rene Pescheret’s multi-faceted journeys and careers began in London and ended, poignantly, in Tucson, Arizona.
Ralph Pearson’s mastery of etching is evident in Church at Ranchos de Taos through the economy of line with which the artist has successfully rendered the sunbaked earth, adobe structure, and figures in motion. This etching depicts the mission church of Ranchos de Taos in northern New Mexico and, as with much of his oeuvre, reveals the simplicity of a former time. The church was built between 1772 and 1816. As with all adobe structures, maintenance of the church is continual. With centuries of community hands having affected the form of the building, it is, in a poetic sense, a living entity. Pearson’s depiction of the Ranchos de Taos church presages the many artists who were subsequently inspired by it. As Georgia O’Keeffe once noted, “Most artists who spend any time in Taos have to paint it, I suppose, just as they have to paint a self-portrait.”
Ralph M. Pearson (1883–1958) Church at Ranchos de Taos, 1919. Etching, no.109. Platemark: 4 3/8 x 6 3/4″. Framed: 12 x 13″. Signed by artist in pencil, l.r.; numbered and titled in pencil, l.l. Also signed, dated, and titled in plate, l.r. Refitted utilizing original frame (Topeka, KS ca. 1930-40), 8-ply mat and UV Plexiglas. Archival presentation; original toned paper. Very good condition. $3,000.
Charles M. Capps (1898–1981). Sangre de Cristo. 1951. Etching and aquatint. The first impression of an edition of 75. Plate mark: 7 x 10 1/2″. Archival framing with museum glass with an attractive black and silver toned finish: 18 1/2 x 21 1/4″. Signed, l.r.; titled and numbered 1/75, l.l. Superb condition. $9,000.
The subject of this print by Charles M. Capps is a cemetery in northern New Mexico, near the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. A winding path leads the eye to two distinctive mountain peaks. The Sangre de Cristo’s are the southernmost range of the Rocky Mountains. In Spanish, Sangre de Cristo is translated as Blood of Christ, which is named for the red glow the mountains sometimes radiate at sunset. Capps made annual visits to the Taos and Santa Fe area for many years, and in the simple shapes of the adobe architecture, and the area’s marked contrasts of light and shadows, he found the ideal inspiration for his aquatint technique with its subtle tonal variations. Sangre de Cristo is held in a number of collections including, the Denver Art Museum, the Wichita Museum Art collection and the Mary R. Koch Arts Center in Kansas.
Offered here is a wonderful modernist interpretation of the Ranchos de Taos Church by the Philadelphia artist Morris Blackburn. Noted for his ingenious use of printmaking materials and techniques, he was one of the first artists in the early 1940s to use screen printing for fine art prints. In his image of the famous church located in the small New Mexican village of Ranchos de Taos, Blackburn took advantage of the inherent flatness of the screen-printing process to define the bold geometry of the structure. The planar qualities and angularity of the unadorned adobe walls offered the perfect subject matter for an artist interested in the geometry of form expressed in two dimensions. As with so many modernist artists of the twentieth century, Blackburn chose to depict the much painted, drawn, and photographed rear view of the building.
Morris Blackburn (1902–79). Adobe Mission [Ranchos de Taos Church], 1962. Screen print, no. 30 of 30. Image: 10 x 14.” Sheet: 18 1/2 x 25.” Signed in pencil, l.r. Titled and numbered in pencil, l.l. Period-style goldleaf frame: 19 ¾ x 23 x 1 1/2″. Excellent condition. $4,500.
Eric Waters Gibberd (1897-1972) Hills of New Mexico, ca. 1960s. Oil on board, 15 3/4 x 23 1/2.” Signed l/l. Gold leaf frame, 21 1/4 x 29 ¼ x 1 1/2.” Excellent condition. $7,500.
Painted in a bold and bright manner, this modernist Western landscape is both dramatic and illuminating. With a vigor of line and color and the use of heavy paint, the artist is in full command of his medium, creating a composition that pushes the boundaries of its frame with strong-colored geometric forms. Here is the power of the great Western expanses to which the artist was drawn. Eric Gibberd (1897-1972) began his life in London, England and eventually became part of the legendary Taos Art Colony and a member of the Taos Art Association. Gibberd’s family had emigrated to western Canada from London for Eric’s sake, when it was recommended that the boy’s poor eyesight would benefit from “the wide-open spaces of the western prairies.” It was some time however before Gibberd would find his voice as an artist, at first pursuing a career in advertising, which brought him to the United States. Sometime after World War II, he married Pauline Bridge Seeberger, an artist who had trained in Boston, Paris, and Rome. Through her encouragement, Gibberd embarked on his own education in art, studying in Los Angeles, Barcelona, Salzburg, and in Taos with Emil Bisttram. His admiration for Paul Cezanne lead Gibberd to Aix en Provence for a concentrated study of Cezanne’s paintings and his working environment.
Rio Grande is an excellent example of Doel Reed’s modernist style characterized by geometric abstraction and the dramatic use of lights and darks. Mountainous topography, geology and the history of New Mexico, all had an emotional impact on Reed, and provided endless inspiration.
Born in Indiana, Reed studied drawing as a boy at the John Herron Art Museum in Indianapolis. Following high school, he apprenticed with an architect for four years, after which he enrolled at the Cincinnati Art Academy, where Frank Duveneck and Joseph Henry Sharp were on the faculty. After service in World War I, Reed returned to the Academy in Cincinnati. He was inspired by Francisco Goya’s aquatints to study printmaking. Reed began going to Taos in the summers during World War II and eventually became a summer resident. In 1959, after his retirement, he began living in nearby Talpa, full time. As Harry Cohen and Ann Rogers state in their work on the artist, “he would go on solo day trips to the surrounding small Spanish villages near his home, paying particular attention to the pattern of light and dark passages and emotional quality that struck inside him.” Considered a true “master of the aquatint,” he would describe himself as a “a purist,” and attest that “aquatint offers … a broad field for the expression of beauty, strength, and drama.” In addition to his series of female nudes and pure landscapes, Doel Reed created scenes of adobe houses, churches, and chapels. He created studies in the field with crayon and ink, later using them to complete paintings and prints in his studio. He described his goal as not “to copy nature as I find it, but rather to record facts and moods which excite the imagination.”
Doel Reed (1894-1985). Rio Grande. 1971. Aquatint etching on heavy paper with some deckled edges. Richly inked image with full margins. Image size: 12 x 17 ½“. Sheet size: 15 x 22 1/4.“ Original edition of 30. Identified as 10/30 in pencil l.l. Signed by the artist in pencil l.r. Doel Reed, N.A. 1971. Minor ink smudges in margin along upper edge. Some stray ink on upper plate mark, does not affect presentation. A fine impression. Excellent condition. With original Doel Reed label including title, medium, edition and print number (in the artist’s hand). $5,500.
Doel Reed (1894-1985). “Old Church at Cundiyo,” 1975. Aquatint etching on beautiful heavy paper with some deckled edges. Richly inked image with full margins. Sheet size: 15 x 22 1/2“. Image size: 10 1/4 x 17 5/8“. Original edition of 30. Identified as Artist’s Proof in pencil l.l. Signed by the artist in pencil l.r. Doel Reed, N.A. Minor ink smudges in margins l.l. u.r. and l.r.; Some stray ink on upper plate mark, does not affect presentation. Handsomely presented in a Frames 27th black lacquer frame: 20 3/4 x 27 1/2“. A fine impression for this artist proof. Excellent condition. $7,500.
This bucolic scene of the old church in Cundiyo, New Mexico is masterfully rendered in the medium of etching by artist and printmaker Doel Reed. This humble catholic church located in the rural village of Cundiyo occupies the foreground of the image, dividing the visual plane with its geometric yet organic forms constructed of adobe. Set within the majestic landscape of northern New Mexico, Reed poetically translates the expanse and beauty of this geographic region through the meticulous process of aquatint. Heavy tones around the border of the image naturally creates a physical yet metaphorical window, which in turn offers the viewer a sublime glimpse into a bygone era.
Howard Cook’s superb woodcut offers a nostalgic glimpse of small-town New England at a time when artists were drawn more to the dynamism of the city than the quiescence of the country. Cook, however, from the late 1920s to the early 1930s, produced quintessential images of both city and country, finding beauty and significance in many places and many forms. All too often, wrote Janet Flint, American artists of the twenties and thirties are narrowly circumscribed, identified solely with urban subject matter . . . [but] Howard Cook’s career defies any kind of simple label. Whether depicting New Mexico pueblos, New York skyscrapers, or New England churches, Cook brought a compelling force to his images and a pictorial integrity that was sustained and strengthened by assured composition, firm drawing, and impressive craftsmanship.
Howard Cook (1901-1980). The Village, 1928. Woodcut from a proposed edition of 50 (35 were printed). On fine, tissue thin paper. Signed in pencil, l.r.; signed in block, l.r. Image: 6 3/4 x 12.” Sheet: 7 3/4 x 13 1/4.” Exceptionally strong impression in superb condition. $4,500.
Carl I. Wheat. Mapping the Transmississippi West, 1540–1861 (San Francisco: The Institute of Historical Cartography, 1957–1963). First edition, limited to 1,000 copies. Complete with five volumes bound in a six-volume set. Vol. 1: The Spanish Entrada to the Louisiana Purchase, 1540–1804; Vol. 2: From Lewis and Clark to Fremont, 1804–1845; Vol. 3: The Mexican War to the Boundary Survey, 1846–1854; Vol. 4: Pacific Railroad Surveys to the onset of the Civil War, 1855–1860; Vol. 5, Parts 1 & 2: Civil War to the Geological Survey. Original brown paper dust jackets on volumes 1 – 4. These volumes are clean and pristine. Excellent condition. $5,000.
This monumental and exhaustive work on the history of cartography traces the “opening of the west” from the first Spanish explorations to the U.S. geological surveys. The result of 30 years of research, Wheat herein describes and analyzes 1302 maps, magnificently illustrated with more than 300 facsimile maps, some color and some folding. For this publication, maps were reproduced from a number of important collections, including the Library of Congress, The National Archives, Harvard University, Yale University, the American Antiquarian Society, and many other prestigious archives, libraries, historical societies, and geographical societies throughout the country. This is the definitive and most sought-after reference on maps of the American West. With important and charming provenance, including invoices and letters from the great Albuquerque bookseller Jack D. Rittenhouse.
