Search Results: Titles starting with Q from Daniel Crouch Rare Books Ltd

Amsterdam,, 1655.. 527 by 612mm. (20.75 by 24 inches).. The text on the reverse of this map is in Latin. Map of the province of Guangdong (Canton), showing Hong Kong and Macau. From the first atlas of China published in Europe, 'Novus Atlas Sinensis', based on the surveys of Martino Martini. Martino Martini (1614-1661) was an Italian Jesuit missionary and scholar who travelled widely through China, gathering scientific information on the geography of the empire. In 1651, after nearly a decade in Asia, he was ordered to Rome as the Delegate for the Chinese Mission Superior. He travelled to Europe and took with him over fifty books and maps. Among these were a copy of the manuscript atlas of the Chinese provinces compiled by Zhu Siben (1311-1312), and revisions from the printed atlas of Luo Hongxiang (1555). The journey to Europe was lengthy, Martini's ship being captured by the Dutch and sent to Java, before he was eventually sent to Amsterdam aboard a Dutch East India Company ship. During a… Read More

Florence,: Giuseppe Cocchini, , 1661.. 515 by 785mm. (20.25 by 31 inches).. Engraved chart. A chart showing the southern coast of India and the island of Sri Lanka. The Maldives, the Andobar Islands and the Nicobar Islands all appear in the Indian Ocean. Sumatra and Myanmar are partially visible. From the 'Arcano del Mare', one the "greatest atlases of the world" (Wardington). First published in 1646 when its author, Robert Dudley, was 73, it was not only the first sea atlas of the world, but also the first to use Mercator's projection; the earliest to show magnetic deviation; the first to show currents and prevailing winds; the first to expound the advantages of 'Great Circle Sailing' – the shortest distance between two points on a globe; and "perhaps less importantly the first sea-atlas to be compiled by an Englishman, albeit abroad in Italy" (Wardington). Robert Dudley (1573–1649) was the son of the Earl of Leicester (the one time favourite of Elizabeth I) and Lady Douglas Sheffield, the widow… Read More

[Paris,: L'Huillier,, 1575].. 365 by 480mm (14.25 by 19 inches).. Double-page and folding woodcut map, two closed tears crossing the image extending from the left-hand margin, lower left-hand margin renewed. From the first edition, of the fourth volume of Thevet's 'Cosmographie universelle', 1575, here in a state not recorded by Burden, corresponding to his first state, but without the title above the neatline, even though there is a wide and untrimmed top margin. Although the geography of the map is mainly derived from that of Ortelius, Thevet, in his accompanying text, claims to have based his map of America on his own first-hand observations. Thevet did in fact visit America, returning from Brazil in 1555, and the map contains some interesting information not found in other maps of the period. Thevet has added placenames along the northeastern seaboard of North America. The map's depiction of southwest south America is a sort of compromise between maps showing the bulge in Chile, first depicted… Read More

Paris,: De l'Imprimerie de L.V. Thiboust,, 1704.. Books,""Description et explication des globes With the Arms of the Sun King Octavo. Contemporary speckled calf, gilt. In 1678 the Cardinal d'Estrées commissioned Vincenzo Coronelli to make an enormous pair of globes as an unparalled gift for Louis XIV: the celestial globe depicts the constellations as they would have been on the evening of Louis XIV's birth. This monumental pair - a terrestrial and a celestial globe - was constructed in Paris between 1681 and 1683, eventually measuring four metres in diameter, supported on bronze stands. To this day these globes remain unequalled in both beauty and technical prowess. The giant globes were originally intended for display at the equally opulent Palace of Versailles, but they were transferred to the King's Marly """"retreat"""" in 1703. Completely hidden in a thick forested valley, Marly took more than five years to complete. Louis XIV first visited in November 1683, but only stayed there for the… Read More