Daniel Defoe, Atlas Maritimus & Commercialis

Pat Rogers (University of South Florida)
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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 …

2121 words

Citation: Rogers, Pat. "Atlas Maritimus & Commercialis". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 July 2020 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39329, accessed 29 March 2024.]

39329 Atlas Maritimus & Commercialis 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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