About Us
Antique Print and Map Room is the largest specialist dealer of rare antique maps and prints in Australia. Established in 1979, our gallery is currently located in Ultimo, near Sydney’s city centre. For many years, we were located in Sydney’s historic Queen Victoria Building (QVB). Our extensive stock is available for purchase online or in our public gallery.
Our collection includes items from almost every geographical area and spans historical periods from the 15th to the 20th centuries. We have a particular focus on maps and prints charting the early discoveries and cultural exchanges of the East Indies, Pacific and Australia. This includes one of the largest and compelling collections of natural history in Australia.
We stock only the highest quality material and guarantee the items are described as in the condition reports on our website. Since our founding, we have become a trusted source of prized historical material for collectors and prestigious national and international institutions and several important private collections.We are members of the following professional associations: AAADA, ANZAAB, ILAB, CINOA.
We sell genuine antiques
Throughout our business history, we have strongly believed that our customers should be confident in what they are buying. That’s why we only sell genuine old maps and prints and do not sell reproductions. We bring knowledge, experience and resources gained over 40 years in the international antique trade to check the authenticity of our products. This means that our customers, from the individual collector to the national institution can be sure that our products are genuine antiques.
We are honest about our products
Condition Reports
Our policy for condition reports is to state exactly any of the issues that might affect a person’s decision to purchase a antique map or print. If there is a stain, we mention it, if there is foxing or a tear, we mention it. In addition, we take high-resolution images and have invested heavily in ensuring our photos are an accurate representation of the map in real life. In general, we only source items that are in good condition. That is why our most common condition report is ‘in good condition’. By ‘good’, we mean free from tears, foxing, stains or other aspects that may affect the value of an article. We have decided not to define maps on a scale of mint, fine, very fine, good and very good because we have found that these terms vary widely depending on the person selling the item and are often misleading. Instead, we just tell you what you need to know.
Terminology - Technique
When referring to the type of colouring used on antique prints and maps, different dealers use different terms to describe the same thing. We’ve tried to keep it simple, and have chosen not to use terms like ‘early hand colouring’ as this type of terminology is often ambiguous.
This is how we class our items:
Hand coloured – modern hand colouring (done recently, i.e in the last 30-40 years)
Original hand colouring – Hand coloured at the time of publication.
 History is at the heart of what we do
We take great care to carefully research every product that we find so that our customers can be sure that the information they are given is as accurate as possible. We use a variety of historical research methods including a specialised reference library to determine the origin and value of our products. We guarantee the date we state to within one year of publication (that’s why our dates have a ‘C’ in front of them – to reflect the possibility of a publication starting before it’s included publication date). We use the same level of knowledge and research to determine technique, mapmaker or artist.
We understand conservation and preservation
We are able to frame items that are purchased from us or that have been purchased from us in the past. Our in-house framing workshop has extensive experience in preserving and framing antique prints, maps and other valuable items. Each of our products has been kept in an acid-free environment. We only use acid-free materials when framing and mounting prints and maps and each historic item is attached to paper with removable archival-grade conservation tape.
Questions or Issues?
If you have any questions about the products you find on our website or if you feel that some information isn’t correct, please let us know and we will do our best to explain or rectify the issue. As humans, we do occasionally make errors and typos, so we appreciate your help in ensuring the accuracy of the information you find on our website. Please email us at info@antiqueprintmaproom.com.
