FIRST EDITION, SECOND ISSUE of Emanuel Bowen’s ‘Britannia Depicta’. Bowen (1693?-1767) was one of the most prominent figures in English cartography during the middle of the eighteenth century. Since the highly influential Britannia by John Ogilby had been first published in 1675 no smaller version had been issued. Then in the period 1718-20 a flush of four projects were conceived, three of which were completed. In 1720, he co-published with John Owen the ‘Britannia Depicta or Ogilby Improv’d’. It is the only one of the three to include a set of county maps with the road strips. It was an instant success running to numerous editions over the next 50 years. Hodson, in his detailed study of the atlas concluded that there were six different editions bearing a title page dated 1720. The first can however, be broken into three further variants, only two of which Hodson identified. This is an example of the second (first recorded) issue with the variant coat of arms on p. 94, altered to reflect those of Newton in Hampshire, not Newton in Lancashire. The first two variants both lack the numbers to the Rapes on the map of Sussex itself, they are shown in the key only. Provenance: manuscript notation of ‘E: Bertie’ dated 1720 on front free endpaper; private English collection. Bennett (1996) pp. 40-1; Harley (1970); Hodson (1984-97) 149; Kingsley (1982) 23.1; Shirley (2004) T.Bow 1a issue not cited.