Tuesday 23 February 2010

Old Sea Chart of Falmouth by Capt. Greenville Collins

[caption id="attachment_118" align="alignnone" width="497" caption="18th century antique chart of Falmouth by Greenville Collins"]18th century original sea chart of Falmouth[/caption]

An eighteenth century Chart of Falmouth from The British Coasting Pilot by Captain Greenville Collins circa 1756.  Featuring a highly decorative title cartouche and a detail of the Helford River.

See more antique maps here

Captain Greenville Collins
Commissioned by Charles II in 1676, Captain Greenville Collins was appointed by Samuel Pepys ( Secretary to the Admiralty), to chart the coasts of British Isles and in 1693 he completed the magnificent Great Britain's Coasting Pilot.  This was the first original sea atlas to be produced by an Englishman, the British Navy up to this point was largely relying on Dutch charts.

Several engravers were engaged by Collins to cut the plates for these wonderfully decorative charts, including Herman Moll, Harris, Moxon and Lamb, final publication was twelve years after the initial commission including the seven year nautical survey.

See full details of this antique chart of Falmouth here