Large wall-map in 12 engraved sheets joined, letterpress text below, backed on linen, with rollers, some expert restoration. Measures 1230 x 2460 mm.

One of four known copies of this exceptional large English map of the World on Mercator's projection, the largest surviving wall-map of the World to this date published in England, and Morden’s most ambitious creation.

The rarity can be overstated, Rodney Shirley records only two examples, one in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (joined as one), and one in the British Library, London (bound in individual sheets), of the three, this is the only one found with the extensive accompanying text, apparently as issued, although the text seems to relate to a different world map. To this we must add the copy held at Yale, from the Mellon collection.

The map is created on twelve sheets, and is based on Mercator's projection, engraved by Herman Moll and originally published by Robert Morden in 1699. This twelve-sheet map is apparently Morden's most ambitious single map, and is the largest surviving wall-map of the World to this date published in England, although there is evidence of earlier maps that have not survived.

This example seems to have been printed by William Mount and Thomas Page (II) (fl. ca.1734 to ca.1745), based on the accompanying text, whose imprint is found at the end of the text. The British Library example is apparently a later printing, as it was issued in conjunction with the 1756 state of William Mountaine and James Dodson's world chart, after Edmund Halley.

Robert Morden (d. 1703) was one of the most prolific and active mapmakers and map-sellers of the last quarter of the 17th century in London. It would seem, however, that he was handicapped by a lack of capital, and frequently worked in conjunction with other leading map-sellers such as William Berry and Philip Lea.

A large inset depicts the North Pole, south to 50 degrees north, indicative of ongoing English interest in the quest for the north-west and north-east passage to the far east and East Indies, which preoccupied many English authors and mariners of the period. Maps and charts of this size which were assembled for wall display or commercial and military use were particularly prone to damage, hence few survive.

“Each sheet of the main map is engraved with great clarity… There is a large north polar projection in the top right-hand section of the map. The tracks of Ambrose Cowley's circumnavigation of 1683-86 are marked, and over 100 small ships dot the oceans. As well as directional lines radiating from a number of compass roses there is also a grid oflines at 45 degrees to the parallels oflongitude. An advertisement for a similarly titled map on 'Mr Wright's (alias Mercator's) projection' appeared in the London Gazette for January 1699 [1700], citing the authors as Capt.Wm.Hack and Ro. Morden. However the size advertised of 3 foot long and 5 foot deep (or some 910 x 1520 mm) does not correspond at all to Morden's twelve-sheet map, and may refer to a further map as yet unidentified.” (Shirley).

Shirley 597.