Daniel Defoe, Atlas Maritimus & Commercialis

Pat Rogers (University of South Florida)

Ed. by Nicholas Seager, University of Keele
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1728 - 1728

Places

United Kingdom (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Guidebooks / Travel writing

Resources

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Atlas Maritimus & Commercialis

is a large, ambitious, and comprehensive survey of the coasts, ports and harbours of the world, published in June 1728. It took the form of a subscription volume running to more than 600 folio pages in two columns. The central aim of the volume was to promote a new globular projection for maps as an aid to navigation, for which a small group of entrepreneurial figures had obtained a royal warrant in 1721. The work has an enhanced interest since it carries a prefatory section “To the Reader”, which offers a recommendation for the charts provided since they employ a projection “which in this

Atlas

is very different from any that has hitherto appeared” (i). The author of this preface was none other than Edmond Halley (1656–1742), best known today as…

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2121 words

Citation: Rogers, Pat. "Atlas Maritimus & Commercialis". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 July 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39329, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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