COLLINS, Capt. Greenville (1643-1694). Milford Haven and the Islands Adjacent. London: William Mount and Thomas Page, 1738.

COLLINS, Capt. Greenville (1643-1694). Milford Haven and the Islands Adjacent. London: William Mount and Thomas Page, 1738.

Single sheet (20 x 23 ¾ inches, full margins showing the plate mark). Fine engraved map of part of the coast of Wales in Great Britain, title within elaborate cartouche (very little spotting, lightly toned).  

THE FIRST HYDROGRAPHIC CHARTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. This map of the Firth of Forth, from St. Andrew’s Bay and Dunbar along the coast and past Edinburgh to Inverkithing, was originally published in Greenville Collins' "Great Britain's Coasting Pilot Being a New Survey of the Sea Coast." Beneath the cartouche embellished with waterfowl, the engraver is identified as Ja. Collins, possibly James Collins who was known for his engravings of cathedrals. The map is dedicated to Sir Hugh Owen Bart, Baronet of Orielton in Pembrokeshire, and who represented Pembrokeshire in Parliament for several years.

Captain Greenville Collins was appointed to the position of His Majesty’s Hydrographer by Charles II in 1681, and was commanded to “make a survey of the sea coasts of the Kingdom by measuring all the sea coasts with their exact latitudes, the true plots of all harbours, rivers, roads, bays, creeks, islands, soundings, and the setting and flowing of tides’ which he surveyed over the course of seven years and finally published in 1693 (Hyde 2009). Verner, MCS #58, 1969. Robinson p.40-43, 1962. British Library Cartographic Items Maps C.25.b.11. For more information about this map, or a warm welcome to see it and other books in our library at 72nd Street, NYC, please contact Tara Mishkovsky, M.A. in the Rare Book Department. Bookseller Inventory # 72TM009