This is generally accepted to be the finest map of the Falkland Islands ever published. It is early, decorative, accurate and engraved on a large scale. It is drawn from a manuscript chart by Captain MacBride and it shows the track of his ship ‘Jason’ in 1766 along with that of the ‘Carcass’. It depicts depths in fathoms and safe anchorage’s around Saunders Island, Berkley and Carlisle Sounds. Profiles of the land are shown at the top. According to Fordham’s study of maps of the islands only one printed map devoted to the islands pre-dates this one, that being the much smaller Bellin of 1764. It was first published in 1770 and is the third state with the rare imprint of Bowles and Carver.

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. Bowles appears to have re-issued the atlas with revisions just prior to his death in 1793. He 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. Fordham ‘Maps of the Falkland Islands’ MCC 11 no. 10; Refer Shirley ‘Atlases in the British Library’ T.Bowl 2a; Tooley’s Dictionary of Mapmakers.