Thomas Martyn’s nine-sheet map of Cornwall published in 1748 is the second large scale map after that of the very rare Joel Gascoyne of 1699. Thomas Martyn [1695-1751] was a surveyor, mathematics teacher and miner from Cornwall. Immediately after the publication of the large map a reduced, although still large folio map, of the whole was published 16 February 1748/49 which translates in the Gregorian calendar to 1749. Britain did not adopt the calendar until 2 September 1752; the following day was the 14 September! The map is extremely ornate and bears an inset map of the Scilly Islands set in the same scale. A note above refers to the placement of it due to the fact that if it were to be shown correctly the map would be too long. The key shows that some of the symbols are lost from the nine-sheet map as might be expected. It has been noted that many villages actually only appear on this reduction and are not found on the larger map so this is no mere simplified reduction. It is dedicated to Jonathan Rashleigh of Menabilly, the Member of Parliament for Fowey. An ornate compass rose finishes the map off nicely. The two maps were next issued in 1784 by William Faden and it is this issue which is usually found on the market. Indeed the large scale map in its first edition has only been noted once on the market in the last few decades. Provenance: private collection. Palmer (1963) no. 23; Quixley (1966) 32; Tooley ‘Large Scale – Cornwall’ in ‘Map Collector’ 21 Co 24.