1747 Bowen Map of North America

Samuel Wheatley (fl. c. 1744 - 1763) was a Dublin based engraver active in later part of the 18th century. He operated his engraving business from the shop of an ironmonger known only as "Mr. Costigan", in Salutation Alley, Dublin. His is known to have engraved maps for Faulkner's edition of Sale's Universal History and Smith's History of Waterford. He also seems to have made a map of Lough Neagh for Barton's "Lectures on Natural Philosophy. Though is described by contemporaries as an "Engraver of Note", he seems to have had no qualms about blatantly pirating the work of others. He died in 1771. Little else is known. More by this mapmaker...

Emanuel Bowen (1694 - May 8, 1767) had the high distinction to be named Royal Mapmaker to both to King George II of England and Louis XV of France. Bowen was born in Talley, Carmarthen, Wales, to a distinguished but not noble family. He apprenticed to Charles Price, Merchant Taylor, from 1709. He was admitted to the Merchant Taylors Livery Company on October 3, 1716, but had been active in London from about 1714. A early as 1726 he was noted as one of the leading London engravers. Bowen is highly regarded for producing some of the largest, most detailed, most accurate and most attractive maps of his era. He is known to have worked with most British cartographic figures of the period including Herman Moll and John Owen. Among his multiple apprentices, the most notable were Thomas Kitchin, Thomas Jeffreys, and John Lodge. Another apprentice, John Oakman (1748 - 1793) who had an affair with and eventually married, Bowen's daughter. Other Bowen apprentices include Thomas Buss, John Pryer, Samuel Lyne, his son Thomas Bowen, and William Fowler. Despite achieving peer respect, renown, and royal patronage, Bowen, like many cartographers, died in poverty. Upon Emanuel Bowen's death, his cartographic work was taken over by his son, Thomas Bowen (1733 - 1790) who also died in poverty. Learn More...