Abstract
IN the University of Gottingen there is apparently the only copy of a map of the British Isles published in 1603 by John Woutneel and engraved by William Kip. It is a large sheet cut into four and came into the possession of the University in 1735. A photostat of the map is now in the British Museum. In the Geographical Journal of December, Mr. E. Lynam gives some account of this map. Woutneel was a Flemish bookseller living in London and Kip was a Dutch engraver who engraved the thirty-four maps in Camden's “Britannia” (1607). England and Wales on Woutneel's map are copied from the second edition (1594) of the Hondius map and show different spellings and more names, some of which are taken from Saxton. Scotland is copied from the Ortelius map of 1573. Ireland is based mainly on the 1594 map, but seems to contain some original work. Mr. Lynam does not believe that this map was the general map of an atlas that embraced the anonymous county maps of 1602-3, which do not appear to be Kip's work. It is not a good map. Mistakes are numerous and there is evidence of hasty copying but it is notable for the marking, not always correct, of battlefields, and its fine engraving. It will be of interest to discover if other copies are in existence.
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A Map of the British Isles, 1603. Nature 133, 288 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/133288c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/133288c0