Great Britain from Moll’s “The World Described”, with notes stating his pride at producing one of the first maps incorporating “North Britain” into a map of Great Britain, after the Act of Union 1707.

Moll’s map of the whole of Great Britain is scarcer than many other maps from his flagship atlas as it was only published from 1717 onwards. In fact, with the exception of a sea chart of the north west of Europe centred on Great Britain, this was the first map of the British Isles published by Moll. Geographically, the map is based on that of George Willdey, who issued a map of a similar size c.1715. However, Moll adds roads to Scotland and Ireland and a long panel detailing the additional seats of Parliament assigned to “North Britain” as well as announcing the augmented size of the House of Commons to 558 seats. Following a long tradition, Moll adds the Shetland Islands in an inset on the upper right.

A long panel on the upper left extols the natural resources of “North Britain”, which is a variation of a similar panel Moll’s earlier map of Scotland published previously. Moll also makes much of his connection with the Postmaster General on both panels.

Original colour. [GB2081]