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倫敦市中心西區的梅費爾（Mayfair）和聖詹姆士（St James’s）一帶，英式新古典與維多利亞建築中混合著濃濃的商業與藝術兼具的氣息，是高級時尚品牌零售店、藝術拍賣公司及商業藝廊的群聚地，古董地圖藝廊也在其中之列。這次筆者走進兩家風格相異的阿提爾藝廊（Altea Gallery）及丹尼爾柯拉曲奇書藝廊（Danial Crouch Rare Books），一探他們經手的珍奇古董地圖與地圖集，也與經營者聊起他們如何起家、經營定位、對買家的觀察，以及對於遠東市場的期待，透過不同面向的探訪，瞭解古董地圖藝廊的經營概貌。

The 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes sees a myriad of events and exhibitions celebrating the legacy of the two Renaissance giants. One such exhibition sits inside Daniel Crouch Rare Books in St. James’s. Crouch, a cartography specialist, has joined forces with Libreria Bardon in Madrid and Stephane Clavreuil Rare Books, formerly of Paris but now of Lincoln’s Inn, to present a number of works by both men complemented by a selection of maps and atlases.

I took a tour of Shakespeare’s England yesterday morning – without leaving central London.

What would William Shakespeare have made of the fact that April 23, 1616, would mark the date of his own death and that of Spain’s Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)?

The London antiquarian map and book dealer Daniel Crouch has a remarkable £500,000 centrepiece for his Maastricht stand, where the European Fine Art Fair runs until March 20. The 34-volume first edition of the Description de l’Égypte, (1809 to 1828), with 844 large engravings, many in colour, has been described as one of the greatest achievements of French publishing, and this example is in perfect condition, contained in its custom-built bookcase and accompanied by archival material relating to its first owner. The publication and archive tell us much about the politics of Restoration France, a period with notable resonances today.

Celebrating their sixth consecutive year exhibiting at the fair, Daniel Crouch Rare Books, leading maps and rare books dealer, will return to TEFAF Maastricht with an impressive selection of works including a monumental wall map of astonishing beauty, made in 1604 at the beginning of the Dutch Golden Age by Luis Texeira. Dutch world wall maps from this era are incredibly rare and this engraved map, printed on twelve sheets, is the only surviving complete example.

The British Library in London is a quarter of the way through a major project to re-catalogue, digitise and conserve a 50,000-strong map collection assembled by Britain’s famous collector-king, George III (1738-1820). Among the objects to be digitally photographed is the world’s second largest atlas, which measures a huge 1.8m by 2.3m. The Klencke Atlas, named after the Dutch sugar merchant Johannes Klencke, who presented it to Charles II in 1660, contains 41 large-scale maps made in the 1620s and 1630s, a period known as the Golden Age of Dutch cartography. The maps were intended to hang on the wall, but were bound into one giant book.

The atlas and antique map expert funds the British Library’s digitisation of 50,000 items in the King’s Topographical Collection

In an age when wearable and portable technology has removed the practical necessity for any of u to wear a mechanical watch for purely time-telling purposes, there is a conservative trend that looks back co the industry early origins, to its scientific root in the 18th century as if in reply co the hypothetical threat pose by Apple, Samsung and the rest.

It was hanging there with majesty, an imposing size, a jaw-dropping blue: our favorite blue piece at the Frieze Art Show 2015 was a gigantic blue map presented by Daniel Crouch Rare Books, a specialist dealer in antique atlases, maps, plans, sea charts and voyages dating from the 15th to the 19th centuries.

As the good, the bad and the ugly of the art world descend on London for a plethora of fairs, auctions, exhibitions and of course cocktail parties, AnOther is here to guide you through Frieze’s grown-up counterpart, Frieze Masters, with a curation of excellent artworks that truly exemplify what the fair is all about.

In this week’s episode of the ArtTactic Podcast, Daniel Crouch, founder of Daniel Crouch Rare Books, joins us to talk about the rare books and maps market.