A Map of the West-Indies &c. Mexico or New Spain. Also ye Trade Winds, and ye several Tracts made by ye Galeons and Flota from Place to Place

Method Copper engraved
Artist Moll, Herman
Published By H. Moll Geographer [Thomas & John Bowles, London, c. 1732]
Dimensions 198 x 265 mm
Notes A very characterful map of the Caribbean Sea, originally designed by Moll for his Atlas Minor, though included in a number of other contemporary atlases and accounts of voyages, including Salmon's Modern History, Osborne's A Collection of Voyages and Travels, and Simpson's Agreeable Historian. The addition of a Volume and Page number to the map's top left corner would suggest that this example came from one of the latter. The map is a fascinating snapshot of Caribbean political and mercantile activity during the early eighteenth century. This coincided with a rapid upsurge in piracy that came about as the result of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. This second wave of Caribbean piracy produced some of the most infamous figures in maritime history, including Blackbeard, Calico Jack, Black Bart Roberts, and the 'lady pirates,' Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Woodes Rogers, the man sent by the British Crown to eradicate the pirates, was a close friend and advisor of Herman Moll. The map also charts the transits of various Spanish treasure galleons, linking the crucial ports of Havana, Vera Cruz, Acapulco, and Cartagena to the heart of Spanish mercantile administration, the Casa de Contratacion in Seville.

Herman Moll (c.1654-1732) was born in Germany and came to England in the 1670s. He worked as an independent cartographer and geographer, and traded as a map publisher and seller for two years, and then worked for other publishers. Moll established his own business and eventually dominated the early eighteenth century map trade. He produced many maps and atlases of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. His county maps were all boldly engraved in a heavy style. Moll was also an active member in academic and intellectual circles, being a close associate of Daniel Defoe, Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, and, most importantly for his cartographic career, the pre-eminent English explorer of the era, William Dampier.

Condition: Pressed central vertical fold, as issued. Minor foxing to left hand margin and under the title 'New France.' Otherwise a strong, clean impression.
Framing framed
Price £500.00
Stock ID 44536

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