Herman Moll (1678 - 1732)

A Dutchman, Herman Moll was a bookseller, geographer and engraver. Around 1678 he moved to London where for a while he continued as an engraver. Later, he started his own business as a map publisher and by the turn of the century had become the most prominent map publisher in the country. He published atlases and loose maps of all parts of the world many of which were highly decorative. In 1724 he published his 'New Description of England and Wales', an atlas of the English and Welsh counties.

The maps themselves are very attractive and clearly laid out and on either side of each map's border are illustrated relics and antiquities associated with the county. This atlas was published again in 1740 but without the illustrations.

His work had a high reputation and was much copied by other publishers. He found work as an engraver, working for Moses Pitt, among others. By 1688, he had his own shop from which he sold maps, though the distinctively and characteristically Moll maps came later. Moll had a gift for making interesting friends, and these included Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift (he provided maps for Robinson Carusoe and for Gulliver's Travels), explorer/buccaneers William Dampier and Woodes Rogers, and the scientist Robert Hooke.