The Rare Map Collections

The Carlos Sanz Collection

Carlos Sanz was the author of several articles and books dealing with cartography and the discovery of the New World. El nombre de America, libros y mapas que lo impusieron being an important contribution to this subject.

Sanz donated a number of books and this collection of 19 reproductions of maps and charts originally published between 1482 and 1598 by well known cartographers such as Mercator, Juan de la Cosa, Contarini, and Ptolemy. These maps form part of 50 items reproduced and published, with a commentary, by Sanz in his two volume work entitled: Mapas antig¨uos del mundo: (siglos XV-XVI), published in Madrid in 1962.

In this work Sanz gives extensive information on the originals such as size, distinct peculiarities, particular history, location, ownership, and background on the cartographers. Among the reproductions are: "Orbis universalis descriptio" by Robert Thorne [1527], and "Americae sive nobi orbis" by Hernando de Solis, [Valladolid, 1598].