A 1482 edition of Ptolemy's Cosmographia could make £600,000-800,000 ($968,132-1.2m) at Sotheby's Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History sale in London on November 12.
Among the most ambitious printing projects of the 15th century, the Cosmographia, based on the work of Benedictine monk Nicolaus Germanus, was the first atlas to include a collection of modern maps from different sources.
It was printed in Ulm, Germany.
 The Ulm Cosmographia is the first atlas ever printed outside of Italy |
The manuscript features Papal provenance, bearing the arms of Cardinal Altieri (1590-1676), who would become Pope Clement X in 1670.
The atlas is torn in places, but has been restored.
Willem Barentsz's French language edition of the first pilot map of the Mediterranean to feature printed charts will carry an estimate of £120,000-180,000 ($193,595-290,393).
First printed in Dutch in 1595, the publication enabled sailors to plot courses with an unprecedented degree of accuracy.
Only one complete edition has been sold in the past 30 years.
A selection of 1,000 shipwreck photographs from the archives of the Gibson Family will be offered for £100,000-150,000.
A Monograph of the Trochlidae, or Family of Hummingbirds (1841-1861) by naturalist John Gould is expected to make £60,000-80,000 ($80,000-129,021).
Featuring 360 hand coloured lithographed plates bound in five volumes, the work is considered by many to be Gould's masterpiece.
 Gould used gold leaf overpainted with oils to depict the hummingbird's plumage |
An edition in similar condition sold for $90,000 at Dreaweatts and Bloomsbury, New York in 2010.
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