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. 
Paulus Swaen was founded by current owner Pierre Joppen. Every sold item has 48 years of primary research behind every attribution and condition description. Each item will receive a certificate of authenticity and 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

Il regno della China detto presentente Catay e Magnin. . .

A rare and decorative Italian map of China and Japan, with Japan closely modelled on the indented Cardim outline and Hokkaido, called Yuppi , shown as an Asian peninsula....

$4500 / ≈ €3893
Maker: DE ROSSI, G. G.
Date: Rome, 1682

 


(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 / ≈ €4326
Maker: DE ROSSI, G. G.
Date: Rome, 1679

 


Het Groote Tafereel der Dwaasheid, vertoonende de opkomst, voortgang en ondergang der Actie, Bubbel en Windnegotie, in Vrankryk, Engeland, en de Nederlanden, gespleegt in den Jaare MDCCXX...

1720 - With 78 plates of the first banking crash, showing the shocking effects of the “South Sea Bubble” in France, England and Holland, and placing John Law with his Mis...

$9000 / ≈ €7786
Maker: ANONYMOUS
Date: Amsterdam, 1720

 


Optique de St.Cloud.

This perspective view of St. Cloud comprises 6 hand colored images of the grand Bassin d'Apollon viewed through an square and two round holes cut out from the front card ...

$1100 / ≈ €952
Maker: [VUE DEPLIANTE A PERSPECTIVE].
Date: Paris, ca.1845

 


Paradigma XV Provinciarum et CLV Urbium Capitalium Sinensis Imperij Cum Templis quae Cruce X Signatur Et Domiciliis S.I.

First edition of this rare Jesuit map of China, published by Jean Baptiste Nolin in Paris and based on Philippe Couplet's map of 1686. The map shows China's 15 provinces ...

$2400 / ≈ €2076
Maker: NOLIN, J.-B.
Date: Paris, 1686

 


Tabula nova utriusque Indiae.

This is the fourth and last edition of this map based on Waldseemüller's first "modern" map of Asia. It follows that cartography without change but adds an inte...

$4000 / ≈ €3461
Maker: PTOLEMY, C. / FRIES, L.
Date: Vienne, 1541

 


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 / ≈ €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 / ≈ €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 / ≈ €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 / ≈ €87
Maker: THE FIGHTING PENCILS
Date: Leningrad, 1974

 



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