1747 Bowen Map of North America

This is a curious little map of North America. Covers the whole North America as well as parts of Europe and South America. This is a pirated 1797 reissue of Bowen 1747 map of the same name. Wheatley seems to have stolen the map and updated it solely by scratching out Bowen's name from the title cartouche. Nonetheless, this map is cartographically interesting with much to recommend it. Shows North America in Colonial times with a misshapen Florida and California. Lists the Apache Indians and the 'Supposed Strait of Annian.' Anian is a term derived from a John Donne poem, 'Anyan if I go west by the North-West passage.' However, it was interpreted as the Bering Strait by cartographers, successfully transitioning it from the realms of poetry to cartography. Anian presupposed the existence of a Northwest Passage and, as such, was entirely mythical, though the lands that are now Alaska long bore that name. Further south still we find Quivira, one of the legendary northern American Kingdoms of Gold. Much of Modern day Canada is labeled 'Parts Undiscovered.' Includes the Fishing Banks off Newfoundland and offers fairly accurate details of the Caribbean. Prepared by Wheatley for D. Fenning's 1797 issue of A New and Easy Guide to the use of Globes; and the Rudiments of Geography. .

Cartographers

Samuel Wheatley (fl. c. 1744 - 1763) was a Dublin based engraver active in later part of the 18th century. He operated his engraving business from the shop of an ironmonger known only as "Mr. Costigan", in Salutation Alley, Dublin. His is known to have engraved maps for Faulkner's edition of Sale's Universal History and Smith's History of Waterford. He also seems to have made a map of Lough Neagh for Barton's "Lectures on Natural Philosophy. Though is described by contemporaries as an "Engraver of Note", he seems to have had no qualms about blatantly pirating the work of others. He died in 1771. Little else is known.   Further Details...

Emanuel Bowen (1694 - May 8, 1767) was a Welsh cartographer, map engraver, and publisher active in London during the first half and middle of the 18th century. Born at Talley, Carmarthenshire, he was apprenticed in 1709 to the London engraver and globe-maker Charles Price, beginning a career that combined the compilation of geographical information with copperplate engraving for booksellers and map publishers. His early work included maps for an Atlas of the World issued in 1717, followed by Britannia Depicta; or, Ogilby Improv'd (1720), prepared with John Owen, which brought together reduced road-strip maps, county maps, and historical and heraldic information in a portable volume. In 1729, Bowen published a subscription-funded map of South Wales, substantially improving the region's cartographic representation; the map's geographical information subsequently informed his Welsh county maps. After working at several London addresses, he established workshops in Aldersgate, Smithfield, and Clerkenwell, producing maps extensively for other publishers rather than relying on a prominent retail shop. His international cartography included maps for A Complete System of Geography (1744 - 1747), the 1744-48 edition of Navigantium atque itinerantium bibliotheca, and A Complete Atlas (1752). He became geographer to George II around 1747. Among his apprentices were Thomas Kitchin (1719 - 1784), who married Bowen's daughter Sarah in 1739, and Thomas Jefferys (1719 - 1771), apprenticed in 1735. With Kitchin, Bowen produced the county maps issued between 1749 and 1760 that formed The Large English Atlas; their collaboration continued in The Royal English Atlas around 1763. His maps characteristically combined detailed geographical engraving and ornamental cartouches with extensive historical, economic, and topographical annotations. Despite his substantial output and royal appointment, Bowen died in reduced circumstances in 1767. His son and fellow engraver, Thomas Bowen (d. 1790), continued his cartographic work, including Atlas Anglicanus (1767 - 1768), which was completed and issued after Emanuel's death.   Further Details...

Source

Fenning, Daniel, A New and Easy Guide to the use of Globes; and the Rudiments of Geography. (1797 edition)    

Condition

Good condition. Original folds. Age toning. Minor water stains. Contemporary color.

References

New York Public Library, Map Division, 1258748. Phillips (North America), page 595.