B[ook of] R[eference] 522 … The Belgian Congo.

Welcome to Julian Wilson Rare Books. With nearly 30 years’ experience in handling rare and antiquarian books, atlases and maps, we offer specialist knowledge of travel, natural history and science, especially geology and geological maps, as well as manuscripts, archives, prints, drawings and topographical art. Julian started his career in the world of antiquarian books when he joined Maggs Bros Ltd in 1997, apprenticed under the late John Collins in the Natural History department. In 2008, Julian took the opportunity to join Christie’s as a Specialist, later becoming Associate Director and Senior Specialist in the King Street Book Department. He has handled many important works in diverse subjects over the years, including a complete subscriber’s set of John Gould’s magnificent ornithological books, a fine coloured copy of the complete first edition of Gerard Mercator’s Atlas, 1585-1595, a pair of John Russell’s extremely scarce prints of the moon, two copies of Mendel’s offprint on genetics and the laws of inheritance, a beautiful example of the famous Chinese ‘Blue Map’, Complete Geographical Map of the Great Qing Dynasty, and Marx’s presentation copy of Das Kapital to his cousin. He has also enjoyed being involved with non-book items, such as an Apple-1 computer and an Enigma machine. Over the past decade, Julian has grown and developed successful sales of photographs, maps, posters and other ephemera relating to major 20th-century geo-political events, tying into his life-long interest with TE Lawrence. Julian also has a fascination with paleontology, geology and the earth sciences, and has helped catalogue a major private collection on the subject. In January 2025, after 17 years at Christie’s, Julian stepped away from the auction world to create his new independent dealership. …