Last year, we stopped our Auction/Buy-or-Bid activities. Learn more [+]

In 2025, we will sell rare antique maps, atlases, and prints in our BuyNow Gallery and send a weekly stock update with exclusive offers and newly added items. Join our Mailing List >>>


Swaen BuyNow GALLERY CATALOG

Our BuyNow-catalog offers immediate sale items, and no commission is charged. The catalog includes old maps of the World - America - Asia - Europe - Africa - Medieval Manuscripts - Nuremberg Chronicle - Prints - Posters, atlases, globes, etc.
All items are available for immediate sale, and we will provide a certificate of authenticity.

VIRTUAL COLLECTION
With Virtual Collection, you can save and collect your favorite items in one place by pressing the Virtual Collection Virtual Collection icon!
Save any of the 30.000+ maps, prints or Medieval manuscripts in our BuyNow Catalog OR Catalog Archive to build your own Virtual Collection.


about us
About Paulus Swaen

The firm was founded by Pierre Joppen (to the left) in 1978 in the Netherlands and in 1996 we moved to Florida, where the Internet auction was added that year. >>>>
You can buy items in our online BuyNow catalog and see what is currently available.

newsletter
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Be the first to get notified about our weekly added new listings, newsletters, and special offers.

The Map Bar

Every Tuesday 1PM EST or 19.00 Amsterdam, meet in The Map Bar at Meta4Maps.com, a metaverse meeting point with plenty of antique maps on the wall to have a chat with other map enthusiasts.

Recent Updates
Recent Acquisitions
You can always check our new acquisitions page to see what we’ve recently added. Let's look at some rare maps, atlases, and wall maps we recently acquired. Which is your favorite?

Sign up for our newsletter and be the first to be notified of new acquisitions and get exclusive offers.

mapmakers
Mapmakers and explorers

Sometimes, maps become more famous than their makers. Many cartographers only become famous after they’ve created a masterpiece.
Still, others make a famous map, then disappear from history forever.

The Mapping of...
The Mapping of...

We have created some short articles about mapping of Arabia, Australia, Canada, China, Hungary, Invasion of Minorca, Japan, Korea, Malta, Mer de l'Ouest, Northwest Passage, Poland, Russia, South East Asia, Taiwan and Ukraine.

Title pages
The Curated Collection

This is a collection of carefully selected old and rare maps, which are all graded with 8-10 stars in the HiBCoR grading system
This carefully selected list of old and rare maps, atlas and books have all in common that they are extraordinary items that make a difference to any collection.

catalog archive
Catalog Archive

Paulus Swaen maintains an archive of sold items, including HR images. Most map images are not restricted by copyright and can be used freely, as most are in the public domain. These historically achieved prices can help understand the pricing development of old maps and help with placing bids.


Articles about maps
Read our short articles

If you are interested in the backgrounds of antique maps, prints, mapmakers, etc. then you should read our short but informative articles >>>>
Or other subjects such as posters, old prints, Nuremberg Chronicle, optical prints, medieval manuscripts, trading companies, etc.



Recently Viewed

Japan - The Kuril Islands from Nipon to Kamchatka..

Large chart representing the Kuril Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Some of the capes and bays are highlighted in red and yellow.Contains 7 inset plans of bays, anchorages a...

$150 / ≈ €132
Maker / Publisher: THE HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE OF THE ADMIRALTY
Place & Date: London, 1893, updated 1895
Selling price: $150
Sold in 2021

 


A View of Tunis on the Coast of Barbary.

An very attractive copperplate view of the north African city of Tunis in a region then known as the Barbary Coast, produced for Middleton's Complete System of Geography....

Maker / Publisher: MIDDLETON, James.
Place & Date: London, ca 1790
Selling price: $60
Sold in 2023

 


[Lot of 7 maps of the lands bordering the Red Sea]

Jan Elwe’s re-issue of Guillaume de l’Isle’s 1707 map of the lands bordering the Red Sea, showing Arabia distinctively.Jan Berend Elwe. Amsterdam-based publisher. P...

$200 / ≈ €176
Maker / Publisher: Guillaume Delisle
Place & Date: Paris, 1792
Selling price: $200
Sold in 2022

 


Grand Birds-Eye View of the Grounds and Buildings of the Great Columbian Exposition at Chicago, Illinois, 1892-3.

Lithography after a watercolor by C. Graham created as part of a portfolio for the World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fai...

Maker / Publisher: CURRIER and IVES
Place & Date: New York, 1892
Selling price: $1200
Sold in 2023