La plus grande partie de la Manche qui contient les Cotes d’Angleterre et celles de France...

Map of the English Channel showing the southern coast of England, the Isle of Wight, and the northern coast of Normandy. Wonderful folio sheet map of the English Channel.

A highly decorative c. 1730 map of the english Channel, southeastern england, and the coasts of Normandy by Matthius Seutter.

The map covers southeastern england, including London and the full length of the Thames River, from Gloucester and Salisbury to the Straits of Dover and from Oxfordshire to the Isle of Wight. The coasts of Normandy are covered from Calais to Havre De Grace. Seutter's map combines elements of both nautical charts and traditional maps, with depth soundings and shading to indicate undersea dangers throughout the english Channel, North Sea, and Straits of Dover. An elaborate allegorical title cartouche appears at bottom center and is decorated with maritime scenes, castles, a merchant, a beehive and mythological characters including Neptune and Hermes.

The cartouche features Greek deities including Poseidon and Hermes, as well as merchants, honey bees, and trade vessels.This map first appeared in various Seutter composite atlases in the 1730s. The present example is exceptionally vivid, suggesting an early impression from the plate. The plate was subsequently updated and reused by Seutter's successor, Conrad Lotter, in the 1770s.

Matthäus Seutter (1678 - 1757) was one of the most important and prolific German map publishers of the 18th century. Seutter was born the son of a goldsmith but apprenticed as a brewer. Apparently uninspired by the beer business, Seutter abandoned his apprenticeship and moved to Nuremberg where he apprenticed as an engraver under the tutelage of the prominent J. B. Homann. Sometime in the early 1700s Seutter left Homann to return to Augsburg, where he worked for the prominent art publisher jeremiad Wolff (1663 - 1724), for whom he engraved maps and other prints. Most of Seutter's maps are heavily based upon, if not copies of, earlier work done by the Homann and De L'Isle firms. Nonetheless, by 1731/32 Seutter was one of the most prolific publishers of his time and was honored by the German Emperor Karl VI who gave him the title of Imperial Geographer, after which most subsequent maps included the Avec Privilege designation.

Copper engraving, original colouring, in excellent condition.