| Summary: | 18th century Copper engraving. Relief shown pictorially. Printed in cartouche at top: ”New & Accurate Map of the North Pole, with all the Countries hitherto Discovered Situated near or adjacent to it as well as some others more Remote. Drawn from the latest and best Authorities and Regulated by Astronoml. Observatns. By Eman. Bowen.” Includes a compass rose beneath cartouche. Printed in bottom border: ”No. 70.” Printed in lower left and right corners outside border are notes describing the attempts to discover a Northwest Passage and sources used to depict Hudson’s Bay: ”By the View which this Polar Map exhibits of the Compass and Extent of Sea and Land, lying East and West from the Meridian of London, may be estimated the Importance of the many attempts which have been formerly made, and is at present making to Discover a Passage to China and the East Indies….” Shows the North Pole at the map’s center with areas surrounding the pole including the northern region of North America, northern Europe, Russia and part of northern China. Also includes Greenland and Iceland. Shows Canada as “P.William’s Land, New North Wales, and Ter. De Labrador or New Britain. Includes Hudson’s Bay and Baffin’s Bay. In northern Europe, Great Britain is shown as are Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Prussia, Germany, and Lithuania. Of note, the far northwestern portion of North America is left blank and labeled as “Parts Undiscovered.” Shows boundaries between countries, major rivers, forests and major cities. Prime Meridian: London. Scale: c.a. 1:21,000,000. [West 180 degrees—East 180 degrees / North 90 degrees – North 50 degrees]. Emanuel Bowen (ca. 1720-1767) was an English engraver, printseller and publisher. He lived and worked in London. From 1714 onward, he created some of the "best and most attractive maps of the century" (Moreland and Bannister, 166). He was engraver to George II of England and Louis XV of France. However, he died in poverty and had lost most of his vision. His work includes "Asia" (1714), "World" (1717), "Cusco" (1720), "Britannia Depicta" (1720), maps for John Harris's "Navigantium Atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca, or A Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels" (1744-48), "A Complete System of Geography" (1747), "The Large English Atlas" with Thomas Kitchin (1755-1760), and "America" (1763) (Tooley, 74; Moreland and Bannister, 166).
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