PAULUS SWAEN OLD & RARE MAPS

We specialize in rare maps, atlases, globes, travel posters, master prints, and decorative prints from the 16th to 18th centuries and offer antique maps from all parts of the world, produced by renowned cartographers such as Ortelius, Mercator, Blaeu, Janssonius, Hondius, Visscher, and de Wit.
The items listed in our BuyNow catalog are available for immediate sale and every sold item will receive a certificate of authenticity. We offer a lifetime guarantee on all our items.
The high standards of our map and atlas collection are world-renowned.


Catalog of old maps and prints

Swaen BuyNow CATALOG

Our BuyNow-catalog offers immediate sale items, and no commission is charged. The catalog includes old maps of the World - America - Asia - Europe - Africa - Medieval Manuscripts - Nuremberg Chronicle - Prints - Posters, atlases, globes, etc.
Our stock is updated weekly, and our most recent additions are conveniently displayed in our "Latest Listings".
Have a look at our Gallery highlights or our Curated Collection of carefully selected old and rare maps, all graded 8-10 stars in the HiBCoR grading system.

Latest Listings

Latest Listings & Updates

You can always check our latest listings page. It is updated daily and you see what we’ve recently added. Let's take a look at some rare maps we've recently acquired.
Join our newsletter and be the first to be notified of new acquisitions and get exclusive offers.
Feel free to contact us using the contact form, Chat on WhatsApp, or Social Media.


Highlights
Gallery Highlights

In this highlights section of the BuyNow catalog, we present some personal favorites from our large stock of authentic maps, atlases, prints, globes, posters and Medieval manuscripts.
The items are immediately available, and no commission is charged.

Amsterdam Map Fair
Amsterdam Map Fair, 12 September

Paulus Swaen will be exhibiting at the 3rd Amsterdam Map Fair in the Maritime Museum on September 12, 2026. Please check out some of the highlights we will bring to the fair

My Collection+
My Collection+

Now you can save any of your favorite items from our BuyNow catalog, Latest Listings or Archive in one place. Build your own Virtual Collection. It is free and you can delete an item at any time. Previously acquired items are automatically added to the My Collection+ list.

mapping of
The Mapping of . . .

We have created some short articles on the mapping of Arabia, Australia, Canada, China, Hungary, the Invasion of Minorca, Japan, Korea, Malta, the Mer de l'Ouest, the Northwest Passage, Poland, Russia, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Ukraine, among other regions.

catalog archive
Archive of sold items

Paulus Swaen maintains an archive of sold items, including images. Most map images are not subject to copyright and can be used freely, as they are in the public domain. These historical prices can help explain the pricing development of old maps.


Articles about maps
Read our short articles

If you are interested in the backgrounds of antique maps, prints, mapmakers, etc., then you should read our short but informative articles >>>>
Or about posters, old prints, Nuremberg Chronicle, optical prints, medieval manuscripts, etc.



Featured Listings

(Totius Americae nova et exacta tabula ex) optimis tum geographorum tum aliorum scriptis collecta et ad hodiernam regnorum principatuum et maiorum partium distinctionem accomodata.

Eastern part of a two-sheet map of America, with attribution to Willem Blaeu. According to Philip Burden, the map was derived from Cornelius Danckert's 1647 map of the sa...

$5000 / ≈ â‚¬4326
Maker: DE ROSSI, G. G.
Date: Rome, 1679

 


Ignographia candiae tertia a turcis obsessae in lucem edita a F. de Wit.

A scarce broadsheet plan and view of Heraklion on one sheet: prospect 180 x 495mm, map 395 x 495mm., in the lower part a printed description "Abbildung der starken S...

$3000 / ≈ â‚¬2595
Maker: DE WIT, F.
Date: Amsterdam, 1680

 


A Newe mape of Poland Done into English by I.Speede.

A wonderful map of Poland. Incorporated into Speed's 'Prospect Of The Most Famous Parts Of The World'. Includes birds-eye views of Cracow, Dantzick, Posna, Crossen, Sando...

$3400 / ≈ â‚¬2941
Maker: SPEED, J. / HUMBLE, G.
Date: London, 1627

 


Carte particulière des environs de St Peters-bourg. . . / Plan de la ville faubourg et environs de St Petersbourg. . . / Carte pour l'intelligence de la guerre de Moscovie et de Suede. . .

A scarce and unusual plan of Saint Petersburg shown at a large scale and also, in a separate compartment, shown in its geographical context between the Gulf of Finland an...

$2500 / ≈ â‚¬2163
Maker: DE BEAURAIN, J.
Date: Paris, c.1741

 


Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

1598 ORTELIUS, A. - An extremely rare Dutch edition of Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, illustrated with 92 maps, 91 maps numbered 1-91, in beautiful contemporary color...

$10000 / ≈ â‚¬8651
Maker: ORTELIUS, A.
Date: (Amsterdam, Corn. Claesz.) ?, 1598

 


[Set of 6 maps] Charta öfver Storfurstendömet Finland på Friherre S. G. Hermelins Anstalt och Omkostnad. Sammandragen och författad af C. P. Hällström. Philos. Magister och Auscultant i Kongl. BergsColl. 1799.

This is a beautiful set of a key map and five separate maps of Samuel Gustav Hermelin's map of Finland. The maps have been engraved by Fredrik Akrel, a very skilled and p...

$4000 / ≈ â‚¬3461
Maker: HERMELIN, SAMUEL GUSTAV
Date: Källa: J.Strang & E.- S. Harju: Suomen karttakirja 1799

 


Popular Listings

Chinese advertising poster for Red Lion cigarette brand.

This poster, an advertisement for the Red Lion Cigarettes brand from the 1930s, melds the meticulous detail of traditional Chinese painting with the craft of color lithog...

$100 / ≈ â‚¬87
Maker: ASIATIC LITHOGRAPHIC PRINTING PRESS
Date: Shanghai, 1950/1960

 


A rare suite of 12 original etchings by Martin van Maele to the famous work by Edmond Haracourt.

A rare suite of 12 original etchings by Martin van Maele to the famous work by Edmond Haracourt. The series was published anonymously in a small edition. These etchings a...

$1500 / ≈ â‚¬1298
Maker: VAN MAELE, M.
Date: Nevers, Brussels, 1882,1883

 


Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula.

A beautifully decorative world map taken from the 'English Atlas' by Moses Pitt and Steven Swart, based on an earlier engraved world map by Pieter van den Keere ca. 1630,...

$6000 / ≈ â‚¬5191
Maker: PITT, M. / SWART, S. / JANSSONIUS VAN WAESBERGHE, J.
Date: Oxford, 1680

 


[Anti capitalism Soviet Union propaganda poster]

Propaganda mini anti-capitalism poster published in Russia during The Cold War. By the 1960’s and 1970’s, outrageous practices in Soviet bureaucracy flourished. Poor plan...

$100 / ≈ â‚¬87
Maker: THE FIGHTING PENCILS
Date: Leningrad, 1974

 


Recently Viewed

La Corea La Manciuria L' Impero del Giappone e le Isole Kurille.

Uncommon map of Korea, Japan and part of China, prepared by Francesco Costantino Marmocchi. Above the map "Geografia Commerciale". From "Il Globo Atlante d...

Maker: MARMOCCHI, F.C.
Date: Genova, Paolo Rivara fu Giacomo, 1858
Selling price: ????
Please login to see price!
Sold in 2022

 


Plan du port et de la ville de Nangasaki.

This plan originates from Charlevoix's work Histoire et description Générele du Japon . His first in 1715 published work was the Histoire de l'etablissement du christiani...

Maker: DHEULLAND, G.
Date: Paris, 1760
Selling price: ????
Please login to see price!
Sold in 2023

 



newsletter