"The First Significant Collection of Charts Exclusively of the American Coasts to be Published in England" - Cumming

An attractive example of the largest edition of the definitive 18th-century English chartbook of North America.

This is a rare late edition, published just after the American Revolution, by William Mount II and James Davidson Jr. in London in 1789.

In Coolie Verner's study of the English Pilot (A Carto-bibliographical Study of The English Pilot The Fourth Book. Charlottsville, 1960) he provides an excellent summary of atlas:

The English Pilot was the first major sea-atlas produced in England. In its final form it consisted of five separate books, and The Fourth Book was the first wholly English sea-atlas of American waters. Although the idea originated with John Seller, he was involved in producing only the first two books. William Fisher and John Thornton produced The Fourth Book in 1689, and their successors Mount and Page continued to print it for over 100 years … Seller’s proposal for a ‘Sea Waggoner’ resulted in the production of The English Pilot, which consisted of five separate volumes with a common generic title. Book One included the southern navigation and Book Two the northern. Book Three was concerned with the Orient, Book Four with America, and Book Five contained Africa. Each book or volume has its own independent publishing history and appeared in numerous editions. The five separate books constitute a set only by virtue of the general title, and under that title The English Pilot is the first great sea-atlas produced in England. Of the five books, the fourth has the longest publication history and is the best known. (Verner, p. v).

The English Pilot, The Fourth Book was an extremely popular and important collection of charts that was published in at least 37 editions between 1689 and 1794. The number of maps grew from 18 in the first edition to 26 in the last edition. Though this is not the last edition, it also includes the largest compliment of charts of any edition.

Compliment of Maps