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.
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 & 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.
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.
Mapmakers and explorers
Sometimes, maps become more famous than their makers. Many cartographers only become famous after they’ve created a masterpiece.
Still, others make a famous map, then disappear from history forever.
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.
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.
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 historically achieved prices can help understand the pricing development of old 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
Index Geographicus Tum veteristum novae cognitae Terrae. . .
This rare and decorative advertising poster uses the world map by Presbyter Chrysanthos, who was the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In the top we see John Constantine Bessaraba ...
Date: Paris, ca. 1930
![[Title page to] Atlas mayor, o geographia Blaviana : Que contiene las cartas, y descripciones de Partes Orientales de Europa.](/uploads/cache/29952-250x250.jpg)
[Title page to] Atlas mayor, o geographia Blaviana : Que contiene las cartas, y descripciones de Partes Orientales de Europa.
Title page from a Spanish text edition of the Atlas Major. Ionic portico with celestial and terrestrial globes. To the left is Ptolemy with a sphere and a pair of compass...
Date: Amsterdam, c.1672
Rerum per octennium in Brasilia Et alibi nuper gestarum, Sub Praefectura Illustrissimi Comitis I. Mauritii, Nassoviae, (...) Historia.
First edition. Commissioned by Johan Maurits van Nassau (governor of Brazil between 1636-1644 and founder of "Mauritsstad" (present-day Recife)) and illustrated...
Date: Amsterdam, J. Blaeu, 1647
La Ville et le Château de Zélandia dans l' île de Tayovan.
This important copperplate engraving is one of the earliest European views of Taiwan, depicting the Dutch fortifications and trading settlement on the West coast of the i...
Date: Amsterdam, 1675
Nieuwe Caart der Eylanden van Banda.
Decorative map of the Banda Islands. Until the mid-19th century the Banda Islands were the world's only source of the spices nutmeg and mace, produced from the nutmeg tre...
Date: Amsterdam, 1726
![[A collection of 100 Soviet propaganda poster published in the 1980's]](/uploads/cache/47076-250x250.jpg)
[A collection of 100 Soviet propaganda poster published in the 1980's]
A collection of 100 Soviet propaganda posters published during the early years of the Perestroika & Glasnost period. Most posters are made by Plakat (All-Union Poster...
Date: Moscow, ca. 1980-1989
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...
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...
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,...
Date: Oxford, 1680
![[Anti capitalism Soviet Union propaganda poster]](/uploads/cache/47032-250x250.jpg)
[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...
Date: Leningrad, 1974
