John Senex and Charles Price entered into partnership in 1706. In the 24 September 1707 issue of the ‘Daily Courant’ they announced the publication of a ‘New Sett of Correct Maps’. There were to be twenty double elephant folio two-sheet maps joined which were in similar size to those in the continental atlases of Alexis Hubert Jaillot and Pierre Mortier at the time. The example in the British Library is dated to 1708-11. The cartographer was Charles Price and the maps were to be engraved by John Senex. Price (fl.1697-1730) was a publisher, maker of globes and instruments and an engraver. He was apprenticed to John Seller and at first worked in partnership with Jeremiah Seller. John Senex was apprenticed to the bookseller Robert Clavell in 1695 and by 1702 was in business on his own.

A new partner was brought in to the partnership of Senex and Price around 1711 in the name of the geographer John Maxwell and the atlas was expanded with several single sheet maps. These represented either more localised regions in Europe or a small group of ancient maps derived from Guillaume de L’Isle. It wasn’t long though before the three partners had problems as within a short space of time Price left and went into partnership with George Willdey and Timothy Brandreth to start up a rival atlas. Whereas the Willdey atlas suffered in sales the Senex appears to have had modest success. Neither however had the rampant success of Herman Moll’s rival ‘The World Described’.

Maxwell himself appears to have left the partnership as by 1725 the atlas is issued by John Senex alone. Following Senex’s death in 1740 the business was continued by his widow Mary Senex and examples of this atlas are known with her imprint. It is believed that she disposed of the material sometime around 1755 when the atlas came into the hands of the Robert Sayer. At this time he often published material in partnership with the Bowles family; Thomas, John or Carington. They were successful map and printsellers.

The pasted index leaf inside the front cover appears to date from c.1757. The advert refers to an edition of the Cyprian Southack’s ‘New England Coasting Pilot’ dated to c.1755 but more importantly it lists the ‘Large English Atlas’ county maps then in preparation. All of those known to have been produced in 1756 are listed, none were issued in 1757 and that of Derby issued in 1758 is not present. The date of this atlas is shortly after 1763 as the Treaty of Paris of that year is referred to on the American maps. Of the thirty-six maps nine are not original to the atlas. There are a set of six maps of the world and continents by Robert Sayer originally dating from c.1755. The Americas are separated North and South with the former referring to the Treaty of 1763. Two maps are apparent insertions, both relate to North America. Thomas Jeffery’s map of 1761-[64] of the Russian Discoveries on the North West Coast of America and a superb example of the early second state of Emanuel Bowen and John Gibson’s ‘An Accurate Map of North America’. The remaining different map is that of Italy by Richard Seale.

Provenance: private English collection. Hodson (1984-97) I App. 3 pp. 186-90 & Hodson II; Kershaw (1993-98) 1120 st. 2; this edition not in Phillips (1909-) but see 550; Pritchard & Taliaferro (2002) p. 110 no. 36; Sayer Catalogue II pp.5-6; Shirley (2004) T.Sen 1a; Stevens & Tree (1967) 49b; Tyacke (1978) p. 148; Verner & Stubbs (1979) p. 253; Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).