This is one of the earliest derivatives of John Adam’s large scale distance map of 1677. It is an interesting collaboration between England and Holland before the ascendancy of William of Orange to the throne of England in the Glorious Revolution. In the first state the map is dedicated to James II indicating its original publication between 1685-88. Adam’s original map on 12 sheets can arguably be called one of the first thematic maps of the country. It was designed with straight lines joining the towns which display distances in miles. This enabled the reader to work out the distances without the use of the scale or compass. The computations were done by Gregory King, who had worked with John Ogilby on the production of the ‘Britannia’ road book in 1675.

All states of the map include the joint imprint of Nicolaas Visscher II and John Overton (1640-1713) indicating that publication occurred in both countries. Shirley identified 5 states, but we have now identified 8. This example was most likely first published in or shortly after 1694 when William III became the sole sovereign following the death of Queen Mary. Nicolaas Visscher II (1649-1702) had inherited the shop of his father of the same name upon his death in 1679. The following year he married Elizabeth Verseyl of Gouda. In 1682 he applied to the States of Holland and West Friesland for a patent for printing and publishing maps, it was granted the same year. From about 1683 he first published the ‘Atlas Minor’. A second patent was granted in 1697.

John Overton (1640-1713) who had only been made free in 1663. He was born in London, the son of Thomas Overton, a tailor in Covent Garden. He is believed to have been related to the bookseller Henry Overton. He acquired Peter Stent’s stock in 1665 and set up shop in his premises at the White Horse in Giltspur Street which were burned in the Great Fire of London. He was forced to relocate to Little Britain just outside the extent of the fire. By 1668 he had returned to a rebuilt Newgate on ‘the corner of the little old Baly neere the fountaine tavern without Newgate’. Provenance: Doreen Green 2001; private English collection. Koeman (1967-70) III p. 181 no. 144; Shirley (1988) Visscher 2.4 and Adams 1, Appendix V (listing derivatives).