The Indiae Orientalis Collection

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The IndiaeOrientalisCollection
The Indiae Orientalis Collection is rich in maps of India and other regions of Asia, but also
features fascinating examples of cartographic achievements ranging around the world
and across five centuries, some extraordinarily rare. It represents the lifelong quest of an
American with a career in anthropology and journalism who lived in India researching its
culture and society. Beginning in the early 1970s, when he was working on a doctorate
at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, he discovered the
availability of early maps of regions he had studied. Over the next four decades he
expanded his collection, scouring antiquarian map shops and flea markets in numerous
countries where he worked and travelled. He reveled in the ability to hold the actual maps
used by travelers, merchants, and explorers hundreds of years ago, revealing their unfolding
knowledge of the world.
A few highlights from this collection include:
• 12) Strip Map of Rhine River from Cologne to Mainz 1852
• 38) Very Rare Holy Land Pictorial Map from“The Geneva Bible” 1599
• 50) Large Six Sheet Wall Map of India detailing British Colonization 1804
• 83) Tabula Moderna Indiae by Martin Waldseemüller 1513
• 84) Linschoten’s Map of Southern Asia and the Indian Ocean 1596
• 93) Rare Map of China and Korea Compiled from Jesuit Surveys 1734
• 97) Carte du Royaume de Siam 1686