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In this section we gather together information for the collector. We offer advice on building and housing your maps and books, provide biographies of mapmakers, and a glossary of bookselling terms, and we draw together some common themes that span our collections, and tell stories of the histories of exploration and cartography.
Featured items
Sir Gregor MacGregor, the Cazique of Poyais
In 1820, self-proclaimed Scottish nobleman Gregor MacGregor launched one of the most audacious and elaborate frauds of all time, tricking thousands of Brits into investing in “Poyais”, a territory in Central America which turned out to be entirely fictional.
The latest news
A Conversation with Daniel Crouch
13 July 2021
Books, maps, and globes are all areas that generate emotion for any interested buyer and Daniel Crouch is keenly aware of these connections.
How to
A guide to your collection
Are you new to collecting maps? Would you like guidance on how to handle the books and maps in your collection?
From the glossary
Slipcase
A box with one open side, into which a volume or a multivolume set is “slipped” for protection; publishers often issue a slipcase with two and three volume sets.
Danish: Kasette
Dutch: Schuifdoos, huls
French: Emboîtage
German: Schuber
Italian: Custodia, astuccio
Spanish: Tapas y lomo de una encuadernación
Swedish: Kassett
Mapmaker biographies
APIANUS, Petrus
Petrus Apianus (1495–1552) was born in Saxony as Peter Bienewitz. He studied at the University of Leipzig from 1516 to 1519, where he took a Latinised version of his German name, Petrus Apianus. In 1519 he moved to Vienna, where he was part of the second Vienna school of cartography, including Georgius Tannstetter and Johannes Cuspinianus. He then moved again to Landshut, where he produced the ‘Cosmographicus liber’ in 1524, an extremely popular work on astronomy and navigation which underwent thirty reprints. Based on Ptolemy, it contains paper instruments called volvelles, which Apianus would use so effectively in his work that they are sometimes known as Apian wheels.