Jose Algue's Atlas de Filipinas

From the blurb of Lot.847 from Old World Auctions, it describes the atlas as such:

 A hard to find, superbly detailed and beautifully colored atlas with two title pages, the first in Spanish; "Atlas de Filipinas Coleccion de 30 Mapas" with attribution to Jose Algue (Director del Observatorio de Manila), and the second, with an introduction by Henry S. Pritchett, is titled "Atlas of the Philippine Islands", and is GPO Special Publication No. 3. With four pages of tables followed by an extensive 17 page index of place names, this example is a mine of information. There are 30 full-page maps published by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, but printed with Spanish titles, and each is presented in eye-catching full color.

The nice thing about catalogs is that the level of description is quite high. Yes, the same atlas can fetch as much as $450 in some auction houses and local collectors love to disbound it and sell individual maps for such a high price. Know that such colonial paper artifacts are quite rare to come by in its native Philippines because of the humidity, heat, mildew that can wreck a perfectly nice map.  Also, loss brought about by war and disinterest added to the scarcity of the atlas.  This is why I cannot fault sellers making a killing by selling a single map to someone from that area.  I saw someone from Ebay trying to sell a piece for $35-50.  My golly. So the best bet is to get it overseas.

I got a couple copies of the atlas in such a poor state. However, being in a poor state does not mean the maps are affected.  There may be scuffings on the cover, a slight waterstain on the frontispiece and discoloration on the back but the maps are all immaculately preserved.  Do not bother buying a full set if there are foxings, mildews or crap affecting the maps themselves. I thinks it's worth next to nothing. Get one that's clean.

 I love this atlas acutally. Thank you, Fr. Algue for the effort.  All the pieces are collectible, scarce but not rare, and since they are in Spanish (though published in the US), they lend a nice Hispanic colonial air to it. 

Looking through the maps, one would see towns and villages that we all knew.  I have looked at the Cavite area and some villages that were printed on the map have already been gobbled up by towns rendering them quasi-invisible. Also you will enjoy looking at the Spanish routes and roads especially at the absence of such in the Cordillera region.  You will learn the old names of provinces that have been broken up or renamed.  This atlas is such a joy to read even if half of it is already lost to the ashes of history.

If you're into Filipiniana, this is a must in your collection.