A Map Of Northampton Shire
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Emanuel Bowen was one of the most prolific map engravers active in London in the mid-eighteenth century. Beginning his career in about 1714 he continued into the 1760's producing maps of all parts of Britain and the world. In fact, few other mapmakers of any period could lay claim to such a broad output, from maps or plans of localised British regions and counties, to maps of almost unknown regions such as Australia and the North Pole! Bowen's maps appeared in atlases, travel and history books, periodicals and as separate publications. However, despite the quantity of work, many of his maps have an important place in cartography - most notably the large-scale county maps designed with Thomas Kitchin. Undoubtedly one of the most popular atlases of the early eighteenth century was that with maps engraved by Bowen for John Owen's "Britannia Depicta" - a pocket-sized atlas of county maps and strip road maps, based on John Ogilby's famous road book of 1675, and first published in 1720. This particular map comes from a 1724 edition of the "Britannia Depicta" and is immensely detailed and finely engraved with a decorated cartouche, information regarding market days and distances pertaining to the county shown.
place and date of publication: London 1720-1724
medium and colour: copperplate, Colouredref: 28934
size in mm: 180 x 115
literature: Hodson, County Atlases Of The British Isles, vol I, 155.
Price: £ 80£ 56
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