An attractive map of the British Isles produced by Richard Blome (1635-1705), the son of Jacob Bloome, a member of the Stationers’ Company. Although his family name is written in contemporary documents as Bloome, he himself used Blome. He was made free of the Stationers’ Company in August 1660 at the time of the Restoration of Charles II. According to Skelton, he began as a ruler of paper and a heraldic painter, both features which are seen in his later works. His earliest known work is a geographical treatise published in 1663. From 1667 the first of a series of maps of the world was engraved for ‘A Geographical Description of the Four Parts of the World’ published in 1670. The maps were openly described as copies of those of Nicolas Sanson in Paris and Blome’s work was derided by earlier commentators. This was a very early phase of English map publishing, and the undertaking was full of peril. Apart from an early proof state surviving in one known example at the British Library, this is the first available. In this the date is changed from 1668 to 1669. Provenance: Doreen Green 2004; private English collection. Shirley (1988) Blome 3.1; Shirley (2004) T.Blom 1a no. 23; Skelton (1970) 70; Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).