Antique Philippine Map: Bellin

 
Any map about the Philippines is highly collectible, well especially if you're living in this beloved isles.  During the 17-19th centuries, British, French, German and Dutch explorers and colonizers had been busy building their empires, and with them, cartographers had also been busy producing maps of their colonies.  These northern Europeans have already eclipsed Spain and Portugal, which is perhaps why a lot of Philippine maps were in a language other than Spanish. Names like Bellin, Moll, Mallet, Justus Perthes, etc., pop up from time to time when looking for antiquarian maps especially in Ebay.  Sometimes you shall see an Algue, but that's it.

The ones I purchased online were made by Bellin. I started collecting Asian maps, the earlier the better. No Philippine map then was reasonably priced. A lot of sellers really put such a high premium on these paper relics. I do not know the exact reason why the Philippines is way more expensive than say, that of Bali or Japan.  Is it because demand is greater than the supply? Or is it because there are many Filipino collectors stripping available supply thus, driving prices sky high?

These maps are actually inserts of travel books where they based their cartographic accuracy either on previously published maps (e.g. Bellin on Murillo Velarde map), or with geographic descriptions by recently arrived explorers.

Anyhow, one fateful day, I spotted a pair of Philippine Bellin maps for sale online for less than $80. I was shocked and immediately bought it.  I was on collectors' "cloud nine", the state of being exactly opposite of buyer's remorse.  Though my budget restricts me from owning the original Velarde, the Bellin suffices- especially that the island of St. Jean/John was erroneously copied.

The map was like a holy grail for me. Elusive, expensive, and fragile. I was thinking of having it framed, but then again, all the framers here do not have acid-free archival matting and UV protective glass. If I do this in the US, it may cost me around $60 a frame. Yikes! I haven't framed them yet though. I just take them out for a quick appreciation then return them back to their envelopes. And dream of another day of having them framed.