Located in La Jolla, California, Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps is a leading dealer of fine antique maps and atlases. We are perhaps most well-known for our extensive online antique map inventory, which is the largest and most diverse available online.

Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps was established in 1992. Our website was launched in 1996, making us one of the oldest and most active antique map sellers on the internet. As of 2017, we have sold and shipped over 41,000 antique maps and atlases to collectors and institutions in over 75 different countries.

We have earned a reputation for handling top-quality authentic antique maps and for helping to inform both experienced collectors and first-time map buyers. We pride ourselves in offering a wide variety of antique maps and atlases at fair prices and for helping collectors to start and craft their collections. Our gallery on Girard Avenue in La Jolla provides a warm and comfortable environment for map collectors to gather, browse our current inventory, and discuss antique maps with our friendly staff.

Antique maps offer the collector a vast variety of opportunities for enjoyment. Antique maps stimulate intellectual curiosity, provide us with a contemporary view of the world as it was known in earlier times and are often objects of great beauty and artistic skill. We pride ourselves in helping our clients develop true connoisseurship for antique maps.

Professional Memberships

We are members of the International Map Collectors Society, the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America, the California Map Society, the Philip Lea Phillips Society of the Library of Congress, and the Washington Map Society. We sponsor the Miami International Map Fair and exhibit at other antique map and book fairs in the United States and Europe.

Institutional Relationships

We consider ourselves very fortunate to have developed longstanding relationships with important public institutions and private collectors alike. We count the following public collections among our clients:

• Library of Congress
• British Library
• National Library of Australia
• State Library of New South Wales
• Stanford University
• Yale University
• Texas General Land Office
• Boston Public Library
• William Clements Library, University of Michigan
• John Carter Brown Library
• Osher Map Library, University of Southern Maine
• Princeton University
• The David Rumsey Collection
• St. Louis Mercantile Library
• Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
• University of Alaska, Fairbanks
• University of Wyoming

The Barry Lawrence Ruderman Conference on Cartography at Stanford University

This October the David Rumsey Map Center will host a three-day conference on cartographic scholarship called the Barry Lawrence Ruderman Conference on Cartography, to be held on October 19, 20 and 21, 2017. Events will begin the evening of October 19. The keynote speaker will be Parag Khanna, author of Connectography and noted spatial thinker. Speakers from around the world will discuss the latest in the history of cartography and related fields, while several advanced Stanford students will also have a chance to share their exciting new research in how they use maps as part of their scholarship, teaching and research. This is the first ever conference of its kind to be held at the David Rumsey Map Center.

Team

Barry Lawrence Ruderman, Owner

Barry is a native of Rialto, California.

Barry holds a BS in Economics from the University of California Riverside (1984) and Juris Doctorate from the University of San Diego School of Law (1987). Barry was a partner in the law firm of Weeks Rathbone Robertson & Johnson and later Rathbone & Ruderman until 2003.

Barry first began collecting maps as a lawyer and began selling antique maps as a hobby in 1992. In 1996, he created RareMaps.com, which would become the world's leading antique map and atlas website. Barry first opened a shop in La Jolla selling antique maps in 1999.

Barry is the sponsor of the Barry Lawrence Ruderman Conference on Cartography at Stanford University and a founding friend of the David Rumsey Map Library at Stanford University.

Barry is married and has 3 daughters and 3 stepsons, and is an avid skier and soccer fan.

Alex Clausen, Gallery Director

Alex is a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and has been with the company since early 2016.

Before joining Barry Ruderman Antique Maps, Alex worked as the head of the Maps, Atlases, and Plate Books Department at a New York City auction house, which he joined in October 2013. Previously, he had worked as Director for two New York City-based dealers.

Alex received his BA in Political Science from the University of Minnesota and studied International Political Economy in the General Course at the London School of Economics.

He lives in La Jolla with his wife, young daughter, and their menagerie of pets.

Cathy Garnica, Gallery Manager

Cathy joined Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps in 2009, following a career in finance, real estate, and retail management. With her came years of operational experience which she quickly adapted to ensure a unique experience for every client.

After years of listening to Barry talk about antique maps after they met in 2003, Cathy was finally lured away from the financial services world and joined as operations manager, bringing with her two family members, Jorge Chavez (our Digital Imaging Manager) and Kasarah Chavez (our Shipping and Receiving Manager).

Today, Cathy ensures (or tries) that every map is in its place, oversees the day to day operations and every now and then, has the opportunity to meet the clients she so enjoys speaking with at shows and on the phone.

Dr. Katherine Parker FRGS, Research Officer

Dr. Katherine Parker (FRGS) earned a BA (Hons.) in History and International Studies at Oregon State University, University Honors College (2006). She studied at the University of Pittsburgh for her MA (2012) and PhD in History (2016), where she specialized in the creation of Pacific geographic knowledge in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Her area of expertise is in the early modern European history of cartography.

Upon graduation, she was awarded a Hakluyt Society Research Fellowship. She has also held fellowships from the American Bibliographical Society, the John Carter Brown Library, and the Mellon Foundation. She was also elected as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and is currently the Administrative Editor for the Hakluyt Society, which specializes in the publication of primary sources for the history of global exploration.

She joined Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps in autumn 2016 as the Research Officer.

Denise Murphy, Business Manager

Denise has been involved in the business since 1992. In addition to her role as the company financial manager, she oversees descriptions and inventory control for American maps published in the second half of the 19th Century. She also has an obsession with maps by Alain Manesson Mallet and John Tallis.