A NEW CHART OF THE WEST COAST OF ENGLAND, 1794 published by Laurie & Whittle.

This reproduction is taken from an original document, held within the Archives of the UK Hydrographic Office, Taunton, Somerset.

The company of Laurie & Whittle were amongst the most prolific British map and chart publishers in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Their work was distinguished by a clear uncluttered style and was very popular with British merchantmen trading in all corners of the empire. The company developed over a number of years and incorporated the work of many of Englands chart publishers including Sayer & Bennett, William Heather and Thomas Jeffreys into their own series. They have continued to develop and currently the company of Imray, Laurie, Norrie & Wilson remain as one of the United Kingdoms foremost private chart publishers.

This chart with its decorative cartouche and small navigational views is an excellent example of the work of the private publisher. The orientation with South appearing at the top of the chart is common for charts of the period and featured until the mid eighteenth century. The treacherous sand banks of the Dee and Mersey are well covered in this chart and show some of the difficulties that inexperienced navigators would have faced when trying to dock in Liverpool or Chester.

Size 52.5 x 38.5 cm (20.5" x 15")