As the title describes the map tracks the routes of several of the recent great explorers. The latest discoveries are those of George Vancouver in the Pacific North West. That of Matthew Flinders are indicated by the presence of Bass Strait in Australia. The map is decorated with six ornate cartouches. In about 1780 Carington Bowles first published ‘Bowles’s Universal Atlas’. An example of this edition appears to be in the Library of Congress, it was quite possibly intended to be a smaller and more manageable version of Kitchin’s ‘General Atlas’ first published in 1773. Those maps were often multi sheet and folding making their use difficult. In the Bowles atlas the majority of the maps are single sheet. He appears to have re-issued the atlas with revisions just prior to his death in 1793 and was succeeded by his son Henry Carington Bowles (1763-1852) who shortly after formed a partnership with Samuel Carver. The firm was renamed Bowles and Carver and continued trading at No. 69 St. Pauls Churchyard. Most publications by this firm are rare and ‘Bowles’s Universal Atlas’ is no exception. Undated as before the atlas is usually ascribed the date of 1798 or thereafter based on internal evidence. Refer Shirley (2004) T.Bowl 2a; Tooley’s (1999-2004).