A Generall Mapp of the Isles of Great Britaine. . .

A copperplate border colored map of the British isles with an inset of 'Isles of Schetland', featuring a very decorative cartouche and scale.
The earliest folio sized map of the region to be engraved in England, and so is the first folio size map of Great Britain engraved in Britain itself. Blome's maps, because of their rarity and importance in the history of English cartography, are essential items for regional collectors.
This map is embellished with a large, elaborate heraldic cartouche with a dedication to Charles II just below, and numerous sailing ships and sea monsters shown in the seas. This map is after Sanson, and was engraved by Francis Lamb in 1669.

Richard Blome's cartography flourished in the second half of the seventeenth century. He produced a great amount of maps, but none were original, and he was often accused of plagiarism although he usually made no attempt to hide his sources. His maps were attractive and quaintly designed, and they still retain their nostalgic look. Blome first began engraving maps for his 'Geographical Description Of The Four Parts Of The World' in 1667. The completed volume was in small folio, and contained 24 maps (plus one duplicate), engraved by Francis Lamb, Thomas Burnford and Wenceslas Hollar. Blome's principal handicap in the production of the atlas was the lack of a domestic mapmaking environment that was comparable with that in Europe. Also, to finance his work, he undertook subscribers, in exchange for a promise to add their coat of arms to certain maps. In later editions, if the renewal fee was not paid, Blome added a different subscribers coat of arms, leading to multiple images on various editions of the same map.