On September 24, the Parisian auction house Millon will be selling a particularly rare collection of maps. For the occasion, it has even created a special new label, "Les Inestimables" ("The Priceless"). Le Grand Insulaire ("The Great Insular") by cosmographer André Thevet (1516-1592), is indeed out of the ordinary.

"It is the only collection bringing together so many engraved maps − 229 in total, almost half of which were entirely unknown until now," said Elvire Poulain-Marquis, an expert in rare books at Cabinet Poulain. Rather than offering an estimate, she has opted to set a starting price of €10,000, hoping bidding will soar from there. "The only slender point of comparison is the sale price of a few extremely rare maps that have sold individually for around €2,000 each," explained the expert. She chose not to base her decision on other collections by Thevet, such as La Cosmographie universelle ("The Universal Cosmography") or Les Singularités de la France antarctique ("The Singularities of Antarctic France"), whose public sale prices vary, depending on the copy, between €10,000 and €90,000.

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