In 1692 Pierre Mortier had published a Dutch contrefaçon of the Atlas Nouveau by Alexis-Hubert Jaillot. It was issued in partnership with Pierre Huguetan, a French bookseller resident in Amsterdam, who provided considerable financial backing. Their next project was an edition of Jaillot’s Neptune François, first published in 1693. For this Mortier employed the finest engravers and extended the work with the magnificent Cartes Marines à l’usage du Roy de la Grande Bretagne. It contained only nine charts, eight of which were of British waters. They are engraved by Romain de Hooghe, who was in the employ of William III at the time, and are arguably the most stunning sea charts produced to date.” (Burden). “Few great artists have turned their hands to mapmaking … Romeyn de Hooghe was an exception to the pattern. A celebrated artist from the late seventeenth century, he was responsible for a volume of nine sea charts” (Campbell).

This is one of only two plates that focus on the coasts of England and is arguably the most desirable as it displays attractively the south west peninsula. It extends from Lands End to Portland and includes three fine insets with ornate cartouche. Lower right is a fine prospect of Portland, lower left a detailed map of the Scilly Isles with upper right a pair of prospects of Truro and Wolf Rock, the latter being a notorious hazard for shipping. The map also extends southwards to take in the Channel Islands of Alderney. A detailed inset centres on the Thames Estuary and an extremely ornate dedication cartouche to William III is flanked with fine views of Portsmouth and Rochester. It was issued just one year after the French planned invasion along the same coast. Burden (2007) p. 486; Campbell (1981); not in ‘Scarcer Maps of the Isles of Scilly’; Koeman (1967-70) IV Mor 5 no. 8; Palmer (1963) no. 9; Quixley (1966) no. 18.