188. JAMES COOK, A Collection Of Voyages Round The World, London 1790, 6 Bände in Oktav.

Books, Maps & Manuscripts Spring 2023

There is a scent in old libraries that can hardly be compared to anything else. Like a historical perfume that can transform day into night, winter into spring. Behind heavy old wooden doors, it can age like a fine bottle of wine. And when the door, like the cork of a bottle, opens up to release its vapors, it becomes an atmosphere of famous wings, curious events, intriguing stories, and remnants of bygone scientists, historians, poets, writers, a few chefs, cartographers, and many others whose words and images were once printed and thus, if not immortalized, at least made timeless for a few centuries. All of that can now be experienced at Stockholms Auktionsverk as they open the doors to the long-awaited auction of Books, Maps, and Manuscripts.

Here, an impressive selection of texts, writings, volumes of all kinds, maps, and other miscellaneous items within the field are presented. Among the latter is a miniature globe in a fish skin case from the 18th century. It is a remarkable object and bears no resemblance to the Skånska Gruvornas poster for the General Art and Industrial Exhibition of 1897. In it, we find examples of the graphic expressions and advertising art of the turn of the previous century. Alongside Samuel Bourne's photographs from India, they are part of the outskirts of the auction but can still generate great interest. Der Türkische Schau-Platz from the 1680s, with no fewer than 137 woodcuts, is a true rarity. The same can be said of the volume containing Otto von Guericke's famous hemispherical experiments, published in Amsterdam in 1672. The splendid Flora Danica, consisting of 17 volumes, is another highlight of the auction, filled with as much botany as one could ever desire.

But these are just a few samples from an auction that encompasses a vast array of fantastic printed materials accumulated over centuries of Gutenbergian dreams, forward-looking scientific ideals, and, not least, a great deal of imagination!

Welcome to Stockholms Auktionsverk and the Books, Maps, and Manuscripts auction!