An attractive baroque style engraved map centred on the Amazon River basin and Peru. It extends from just beyond the Equator to the north and the Tropic of Capricorn in the south. Extensive nomenclature is present along with several legends providing further detail. The lack of knowledge of the interior is highlighted by the presence of the fabled city of El Dorado on Lake Parima and with the source of the Paraguay River is incorrectly given as Lake Xarayes, a common error of the period. It was published in the ‘Complete System of Geography’ in 1747.

Emanuel Bowen (1693?-1767) was one of the more prolific engravers and publishers of the eighteenth century. He was born in Wales, apprenticed to Charles Price in London in September 1709 and made free in 1716. No doubt some acquaintance was likely as they were both from Carmarthenshire. His earliest known work can be dated to 1715 but his first major contribution was to the ‘Britannia Depicta’ of 1720, a popular reduction of John Ogilby’s road strips. He worked in partnership with many people of the day but especially the various members of the Bowles family. He was a major contributor to the ‘Large English Atlas’ and its offshoot, the ‘Royal English Atlas’. He achieved the distinction of being cartographer to both King George II of Great Britain and Louis XV of France. He died impoverished during the production of the parts to the ‘Atlas Anglicanus’. An apprentice Thomas Kitchin became his son-in-law. Another of note was Thomas Jefferys. Phillips (1909-) 603; Shirley (2004) T.Bow-2a no. 55.