Herman Moll (c. 1654-1732) was one of the most important London mapmakers in the first half of the eighteenth century. Moll was probably born in Bremen, Germany, around 1654. He moved to London to escape the Scanian Wars. His earliest work was as an engraver for Moses Pitt on the production of the English Atlas, a failed work which landed Pitt in debtor's prison. Moll also engraved for Sir Jonas Moore, Grenville Collins, John Adair, and the Seller & Price firm. He published his first original maps in the early 1680s and had set up his own shop by the 1690s.
Moll's work quickly helped him become a member of a group which congregated at Jonathan's Coffee House at Number 20 Exchange Alley, Cornhill, where speculators met to trade stock. Moll's circle included the scientist Robert Hooke, the archaeologist William Stuckley, the authors Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe, and the intellectually-gifted pirates William Dampier, Woodes Rogers and William Hacke. From these contacts, Moll gained a great deal of privileged information that was included in his maps.
Over the course of his career, he published dozens of geographies, atlases, and histories, not to mention numerous sheet maps. His most famous works are Atlas Geographus, a monthly magazine that ran from 1708 to 1717, and The World Described (1715-54). He also frequently made maps for books, including those of Dampier’s publications and Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Moll died in 1732. It is likely that his plates passed to another contemporary, Thomas Bowles, after this death.
Scarce map of America, showing California as an island, from the Thesaurus Geographicus, a scarce late 17th century English publication. While the publisher is not credited, this is almost certainly one of Herman Moll's earliest engraving efforts....
![The West Part of Barbary... [on sheet with:] The East Part of Barbary...](/map/small/52496.jpg)
A nice example of Herman Moll's 1729 miniature engraved map of North Africa in two images on the same sheet, from his Atlas minor. Hand-colored by kingdom. Includes an inset of the harbor of Oran.
Very attractive double-hemisphere map with California depicted as an island. Decorative banner contains title. In the center of the banner there is a smaller sphere showing the North Pole. This map shows a number of place names along with the names of...
Early 18th Century English Wall Map of the World Striking example of Herman Moll's extraordinary 4-sheet map of the World on Mercator's projection, showing the routes of the explorers who had sailed in search of the Northwest and Northeast Passages....
Scarce map centered on Greeland and focusing on the passage in the North Atlantic from Europe to Hudson's Bay. The map shows the location of where Henry (Jens) Munk wintered in 1619-20. Jens Munk was a Danish explorer. On May 9 1619, he undertook a...
Detailed map of the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, China, Formosa, the Philippines and part of Australia. A classic example of Moll's fine engraving work. The map shows various sea routes, prevailing currents and other interesting features. The map...
Antique map of the southern half of North America, from the Island of California to Florida by London's most famous cartographer of the early 18th Century. The map shows remarkable detail for a map of its size, including very nice detail in modern-day...
Finely colored example of Moll's seminal map of the British Colonies in America, the first large-scale map to show English developments in North America and the first to show the American postal routes. Moll's map was the first and one of the most...
A nice example of Moll's map of the British, French and Spanish regions of North America, reduced from his landmark Sasquehanna Village map. The map, which appeared in Moll's Atlas Minor, is one of the smaller format English maps of the period, with...
Highly detailed regional map of the Northeastern United States, from Moll's Atlas Minor. A fine early regional map of the American Colonies.
Striking old color example of this rare separately issued map of the Theater of War during the War of Jenkins Ear, published in London circa 1702, by Robert Morden & Herman Moll. A separately published and very rare English produced map of the War...
Detailed map designed to show the theater of war for the War of Jenkins's Ear. The War of Jenkins Ear got its name from an event that occurred in 1731, when Robert Jenkins, the captain of the Rebecca, was captured in the West Indies by the Spanish. He...
![A New Map of North America. According to the Newest Observations [California as an Island]](/map/small/70205.jpg)
Handsome example of Moll's miniature map of North America. California is shown as an Island. The map features a curious depiction of the Florida coastline. The Mississippi is west of its correct location, with a rudimentary illustration of its major...
Herman Moll's Celebrated "Codfish Map" of North America, One of the Earliest Large-Format Maps of North America Printed in England Highly decorative, large-format map of North America and the West Indies popularly known as the "codfish map" thanks to...
Herman Moll's Celebrated "Codfish Map" of North America, One of the Earliest Large-Format Maps of North America Printed in England Highly decorative, large-format map of North America and the West Indies popularly known as the "codfish map" thanks to...
![The Island of St. Christopher [and Antigua] [and] Part of ye Islands of America &c.](/map/small/61547.jpg)
Excellent English map of St. Christophers (St. Kitts), Antigua and a regional map of the Islands by Herman Moll, one of the leading English mapmakers of the early 18th Century.
