Andreas Bureus' Rare Map of Nordic Countries Goes Under the Hammer

The rare 1626 large wall map of the Nordic countries Orbis Arctoi Nova et Accurata Delineatio comes to auction online at Stockholms Auktionsverk on December 10–11.

The map, measuring approximately 2m x 3m, symbolizes the rising power of the Swedish Empire during the reign of King Gustavus Adolphus. It depicts all Nordic countries except Iceland, the Baltic States, and parts of northern Germany. The map was created by the mathematician, war councilor, and cartographer Andreas Bureus (1571-1546), knighted Anders Bure in 1624.

Bureus was one of Sweden's pioneering cartographers and hailed as the father of Swedish cartography. There are only six known copies of this map, all housed in libraries or archives. This one was discovered in the 1930s at Vartofta manor in Västergötland. Most copies preserved today often lack the surrounding text, but this copy retains large parts of it. The estimate is 3.2m SEK ($303,000).