Antique Map of London and Surroundings.

Title:
Regionis quae est circa Londinum, specialis representatio geographica, ex autographo majori Londinensi desumta, curantibus Homanianis Heredibus, 1741. // Ausführliche geographische Vorstellung der Gegend um London, nach Anleitung des Engl. Originals, fo Th. Bowles in London edirt. herausgegeben von Homaenn. Erben, 1741.

Striking and highly detailed, fine 1741 Homann Heirs’s copper engraved map of London and surrounding areas. Based upon an earlier map of the region by Thomas Bowles, this map covers the London area from Berkshire (including Windsor Castle) in the west to Shamel in the east, extending north as far as Bedford. Specifically focuses on Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Surrey, Essex and Kent. Offers extraordinary detail throughout, showing roadways, villages, London Streets, estates, and in many cases, individual homes. The lower portion of the sheet is dominated by a dramatic bird’s-eye view of London and Westminster from Southwark across the Thames. View reveals a densely populated showing numerous boats, barges, and sailing vessels.

About the Cartographer
Johann Baptist Homann (1664-1724) was a leading German geographer and cartographer who founded in 1702 his own publishing house.Homann produced hundreds of maps and developed a distinctive style characterized by heavy detailed engraving, elaborate allegorical cartouche work, and vivid hand color. The Homann firm, due to the lower cost of printing in Germany, was able to undercut the dominant French and Dutch publishing houses while matching the diversity and quality of their output. By 1715 Homann’s rising star caught the attention of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles the VI, who appointed him Imperial Cartographer. In the same year he was also appointed a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin.

Following Homann’s death in 1726, the management of the firm passed to his son Johann Christoph Homann (1703-1730). J. C. Homann, perhaps realizing that he would not long survive his father, stipulated in his will that the company would be inherited by his two head managers, Johann Georg Ebersberger and Johann Michael Franz, and that it would publish only under the name Homann Heirs. This designation, in various forms (Homannsche Heirs, Heritiers de Homann, Lat Homannianos Herod, Homannschen Erben, etc..) appears on maps from about 1731 onwards. The firm continued to publish maps in ever diminishing quantities until the death of its last owner, Christoph Franz Fembo in 1848.