WARDINGTON LIBRARY.. The Wardington Library: Important Atlases & Geographies. Part One: A-K [-Part Two: L-Z].2005

Sotheby's. 2 Vols., 4to, 347;368pp., numerous plates and illustrations throughout (many coloured), orig. decorated cloth. "The collection of printed atlases and associated books assembled by the late Lord Wardington. is, in my view, the finest collection in private hands. In Sotheby's two-part sale over 650 individual items have been catalogued spanning the years from 1472 to the late twentieth century. There are some interesting incunabula containing maps, an example of the first atlas to be printed - the 1477 Bologna atlas by Claudius Ptolemaeus - with some maps as proof sheets, and a further two dozen Ptolemaic atlases up to the early eighteenth century. There follows a very wide range of atlases - Dutch, French, German, English, and others, including a strong array of holdings from the twentieth century; indeed with fresh acquisitions up to a year or so ago. It is unlikely that an offering such as this to the open market will be repeated!"—Introduction.