Emanuel Bowen. “A New & Accurate Map of China Drawn from Surveys made by the Jesuit Missionaries, by Order of the Emperor. The whole being regulated by numerous Astronomical Observations.”  London: W. Innys, 1747. 13 5/8 x 16 5/8. Engraving. Hand color.  Very good condition.

Emanuel Bowen and his son Thomas (born when his father was 53) were both map printers and sellers. As engraver to George II of Britain and Louis XV of France, Emanuel Bowen worked in London from 1714 onwards. Bowen’s maps often included historical and topographical information of amusing and fascinating note. This map contains an extensive explanation of its geographic source, the surveys of China made by Jesuit Missionaries under command of the Chinese Emperor. This first appeared in a work on China by Du Halde issued in 1738, for an English translation of which Bowen engraved a map of China. This is a slightly smaller version issued in his Complete System of Geography.