William Heather was a highly successful publisher, printer and dealer in charts and navigation instruments, who would later extend his business to include general marine equipment. His business, initially addressed 'at the Little Midshipman' would change to 'The Navigation Warehouse'. By the time he died in 1812, it was thriving. It was taken over by his principal draughtsman, John Norie and in one iteration or another, through succeeding generations, the firm still exists to this day under the name of Imray, Laurie, Norie, Wilson Ltd.

This spectacular two sheet chart of the world was included in the firm's flagship product, the "Marine Atlas" which included maps from all over the world. It is difficult to confirm how this atlas was sold as Heather was also known to compile and bind collections of maps for specific clients. We have been able to trace only seven examples of this atlas, three commercially and four in institutions, all of which have different numbers of bound charts.

The chart of the world is geographically mostly based on the wall map by Aaron Arrowsmith on Mercator's Projection published in 1790. There are some differences, but these are outweighed by major geographical common denominators, such as the overall shape of the continents, the detail in Africa and the separation of Nova Zembla into two separate islands. Like Arrowsmith, Heather marks multiple voyages of exploration on his map, including Cook, Clerk, Wallis and Vancouver. He also adds seminal voyages made by the ships of the British East India Company onto the map. Of particular note is the expedition by Commodore James, sailing from Madras to Bombay, against the notorious pirate stronghold of Angria on the Malabar coast.

Although geographically the map is based mainly on Arrowsmith, there are some fascinating differences and additions. These include the depiction of a large island in Baffin Bay, named James Island; its attribution is given to Green; this is a reference to a map by John Green also known as Braddock Mead, who drew an important map of the Americas in 1753. In fact, much of the geography of the Hudson Bay region is based on Green's map together with Heather's addition of the reports provided by the inland voyages by Samuel Hearne and Alexander McKenzie, both of whom reached the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The 1773 voyage of Captain Phipps to Svalbard is also marked, now under his later aristocratic title of Lord Mulgrave; the voyage is notable for its inclusion of Midshipman Horatio Nelson. The Far East is mainly based on the atlas of China by du Halde and the maps by D'Anville, based on Jesuit surveys of the early 18th century. The geographical shapes of Japan, Korea and China are specific to these maps. Unlike the nebulous northern coast of Canada with its mythical connection to Greenland, the northern coast of Asia, or Siberia is well mapped, reflecting the work begun by the Great Northern Expeditions initially sponsored by Peter the Great and continued by his successors, the Empresses Anna and Catherine. These same monarchs were responsible for the cartography of the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea.

Finally, a note must be made of the dedication of this map, to the 'Merchants and Underwriters frequenting New Lloyds' referring to the new location and expansion of the insurance market near the Royal Exchange. It is unusual for a dedication to be this specific, without naming an individual suggesting either that the original map was sponsored by a member Lloyds or someone with strong connections to the institution. The other possibility was sponsorship by Lloyds as an institution, hoping to garner business by having their name in front of wealthy individuals with an interest in international trade and geography.

One of the rarest obtainable maps from the Age of Enlightenment. Framed.

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