£15,000
Rare Books, Maps, Manuscripts & Photographs | 562
Auction: 19 June 2019 at 12:00 BST
comprising 12 gores of the northern hemisphere and 12 gores of the southern hemisphere, plus the north and south polar calottes, one engraved "Venezia, 1688", one (of S. Sea) with 2 margins neatly added to lower section, each gore comprised of two sections neatly joined, 3 sections with Isolario text on verso
Note: This beautiful set of gores present a remarkable large format depiction of the terrestrial world, based upon the monumental terrestrial globe constructed by Coronelli for the French King Louis XIV. They comprise 12 gores of the northern hemisphere and 12 gores of the southern hemisphere, plus the north and south polar calottes.
Vincenzo Maria Coronelli (1650-1718) was apprenticed as a wood engraver and printer, before joining the Franciscan Brotherhood in 1665. In 1678, after studying Astronomy and Euclid, Coronelli began working as a geographer and was commissioned to make a set of Terrestrial and Celestial globes, 5 feet in diameter, for Ranuccio Farnese, the Duke of Parma. Coronelli was next invited to Rome to construct a similar pair of Globes for Louis XIV and from 1681 to 1683, he lived in Paris, where he constructed an even larger pair for the cardinal to present to Louis XIV. Fifteen feet in diameter, weighing nearly 4000 pounds and costing 100,000 francs, they were the largest, most accurate and beautiful globes the world had seen.
Coronelli's globes for Louis XIV brought him fame throughout Europe. Returning to his native Venice in 1684, he obtained official support to set himself up as a publisher of maps and globes at the Convent of S. Maria Gloriosa de Frari, and within ten years Coronelli had established himself as the leading atlas and globe-maker of Europe. By 1697 he had published the first volumes of the atlas series, the Atlante Veneto, the Corso Geografico in two volumes, and the first part of the Isolario (1696). He described the Isolario on its title-page as being "supplementary to the XIV volumes of Blaeu", revealing his ambition to be recognised as the successor to the great Dutch mapmaking firm of Blaeu. Equally important as his maps was his role as a globe maker, the cartography of the gores being very similar to his maps. His first printed globes were the 3 ½ -foot (42 inch) terrestrial and celestial globes published in 1688, at the time the largest printed globes ever made, which were reduced versions of the globes he had made for Louis XIV. By 1697 when he published the Libro dei Globi he was offering for sale five sizes of globes, in diameter 3 ½ -foot, 1 ½ - foot, 6 inches, 4 inches and 2 inches. The 3 ½ -foot globes he claimed to be the most perfect ever made. Only a small number of complete examples have survived, mostly residing in major institutional collections around the world. Separate globe gore sheets from this famous globe periodically appear on the market, but rarely complete sets. There were 4 editions of the Libro dei Globi, all published in Venice, in 1688, 1692-3, 1699 and 1707. Although it has not been possible to ascertain with certainty the date of every gore one is dated "Venice, 1688", the date of the first edition, three have the text of the Isolario on the verso, dating them to 1696-97, and about 12 have watermarks of three crescent moons, which have been noted in copies of the Isolario.
Individual Coronelli gores are very rare on the market. This set of 24 map gores has been assembled mostly from maps published in Libro Dei Globi with a few maps from the Isolario. This is an exceptional artefact, despite being assembled from at least two sources and will no doubt appeal to discerning collectors of cartography. Most have margins of around 20mm. from the edge of the printed area; a few are trimmed to the plate mark and two sections have had marginal additions. The paper patina overall is lightly age toned with little obvious remedial cleaning.
Included in the lot is a bound facsimile copy of the folio Libro dei Globi, by Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Ltd, Amsterdam, 1969, with introduction and biographical note by Dr Helen Wallis, former curator at the British Library.