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Description

Gorgeous large format map of the Atlantic, showing the tracks of the ships trading in North America and the Caribbean, Lord Nelson's pursuit of the French in 1805 and a number of interesting annotations in various parts of the Atlantic, including banks (known and imagined), Maalstroom very Uncertain, banks of breakers, various dates of discovery, and the mythical Brasil Rock (the continuation of a 500 year old myth!). Includes some soundings in the Great Banks and excellent coastal detail. Nice wide margined example.

John Thomson Biography

John Thomson (1777-ca. 1840) was a commercial map publisher active in Edinburgh. He specialized in guide books and atlases and is primarily known for his Atlas of Scotland (1832) and the New General Atlas, first published in 1817 and reissued for the next quarter century. The New General Atlas was a commercial success—it was also published in Dublin and London—and it compiled existing geographic knowledge in compelling ways for a wide audience.

His Atlas of Scotland introduced new geographic information and was the first large-scale atlas of Scotland to be organized by county. It provided the most-accurate view of Scotland available before the Clearances. Work on the atlas began in 1820 and led to Thomson’s bankruptcy in 1830 due to the high costs of gathering the latest surveys and reviewing the required materials. Despite the publication of the atlas, Thomson declared bankruptcy again in 1835.