25 Herman Moll 1724

Herman Moll (fl.1688-1732), a German engraver, emigrated to England about 1678 and began working with Moses Pitt. By the end of the century, however, he had become one of London´s leading map engravers. Until 1708 he often worked on small projects: Moll providing the map for half the books containing only a single map between 1695 and 1708¹. The World Described, a folio atlas (completed 1717) was extremely successful, as was his county atlas. The county maps are similar to Robert Morden’s smaller maps (22), which he had revised. The maps are distinctive for the antiquities in the margins; illustrations of a Saxon coin struck at Exeter and an Andromache, right; and engravings of the Eddystone lighthouses of Winstanley and Rudyerd, left. There are also upside-down directions in Cornwall and a list of five mines; these two features occur in a number of later maps as much of Moll’s work was copied by others (see especially 26, 28 and 29).

Size 185 x 310 mm: Map area 185 x 255 mm.                                                                                                          English Miles (20 = 52 mm).

DEVON SHIRE By H. Moll Geographer. in title panel (Ae). Map flanked by various illustrations (see text above).