Hermann Moll was one of the most significant figures in English 18th century cartography and certainly the most significant in the early part of the century. Through a fifty year career he began as an engraver for hire but by the late 1600s he had opened his own firm. He continued to work for other publishers, including Grenville Collins, Seller and Price and John Adair but he also began to issue his own maps. At the same time, he became a founder member of a group of travellers, writers and intellectuals who gathered at Jonathan's Coffee House in Cornhill to discuss and exchange views and ideas. This often gave Moll a direct or close contact to mariners and privateers such as William Hack and Woodes Rogers. He made full use of this opportunity and began work on his flagship product, "The World Describ'd...A New and Compleat Atlas", a collection of large, imposing, two sheet maps covering the whole world. The maps were engraved gradually and initially issued as loose sheets or separate publications; the dates on the maps correspond to their engraving dates so it is difficult to date the first time that the collection was bound, but it was thought to have been circa 1715 with multiple editions to c.1755. Moll himself died in 1732.

This monumental piece is the second world map in the "World Describ'd" the first being in the form of a double hemisphere and engraved in 1709. This version is on Mercator's projection and bears an engraving date of 1719 although that date remains unchanged in subsequent editions.

Geographically, the map is based on a collection of sources, including Moll's own earlier map of the world published in 1705 based on Edward Wright's projection. On that map, there is also a note stating that it was improved by Mount and Page. Other sources include the hydrological information within the two tropics provided by the voyage of Sir Edmund Halley and the privateer Woodes Rogers, whose voyage is marked on the Pacific.

Despite obvious exceptions such as portraying California as an island, Moll's map is remarkably accurate for its time. The rest of the American West is still fairly conjectural although Lahontan's mythical River of the West is prominently marked. The Far East is still mostly based on Dutch sources and the eastern shore of Asia and Tartary is based on Nicolas Witsen with the exception of a peculiar spur of land north of Japan which is bordered by another myth, Company's Land, supposedly discovered and claimed by Martin de Vries in 1643 on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. Africa is generally based on the shape first issued by de L'Isle and Australia is in the orthodox configuration as depicted by Blaeu, showing the outline of the continent except for the eastern coast which would not be discovered for another fifty years by Captain Cook.

Moll's map is given further gravitas by the routes of voyages of important explorers such as Henry Hudson, Thomas James and Willem Barentz and more recently, the above mentioned Rogers, who was one of the great celebrity navigators in the country at the time. A large illustrated cartouche is placed on the upper left, with four allegorical figures of the continents placed around a central panel which both introduces the map and, in typical Moll style, lists its features and virtues. The engraving date of 1719 is placed at the bottom.

Both this map and "The World Describ'd" helped establish Moll as the leading geographer of his age and encouraged other individuals into the trade, ultimately helping to usher English cartography into unparalleled success and importance in the late 18th century. Original colour.

[WLD3765]