This general map of the British Isles was first published in the ‘Atlas Minor’ by Herman Moll 1729. In the first edition it is dated 1727, in this third state the date is removed. A table of distances from London to the major European cities is also added. Herman Moll (1654?-1732) was born it is believed in Bremen, Germany, although he is often thought of as being Dutch. He is first recorded in London working on the Moses Pitt atlas in 1678. Much of his early work was undertaken for others, or in partnership with the likes of Christopher Browne, Philip Lea, or Robert Morden. Moll’s earliest world atlases were geographical texts, the ‘Thesaurus Geographus’ of 1695 was enlarged to become the ‘System of Geography’ in 1701. The small maps were issued in several differently entitled works at the time. He then moved to the opposite end of the size spectrum with the ‘World Described’ offering a series of elephant folio sized maps. A first attempt at a quarto sized atlas was the ‘Atlas Geographus’ issued in parts from 1711-17 which is extremely rare.

Moll returned to the quarto format later in his life issuing in parts Thomas Salmon’s ‘Modern History’ from 1725. Many but not all these plates were published in an atlas without text c.1727 entitled ‘A Set of Thirty-Two New and Correct Maps of the Principal Parts of Europe’. This included a set of world and four continental maps but as Moll expanded production he was able to publish a complete set in 1729 under the title of ‘Atlas Minor’. Although in the last years of his life Moll did not slow down, he was constantly updating his maps, and these were no exception. Provenance: Doreen Green 1995; private English collection. Shirley (1988) Moll 11.3; Shirley (2004) Moll 9a, no. 2; Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).