The second state of a map of the British Isles first published by Nicolas de Fer in 1693 and so dated. It appeared first as a separate publication and from 1697 in the ‘Petit et Nouveau Atlas’. This example is the second state where the date is altered to 1705. Nicholas de Fer (1646-1720) was born the youngest of eight children to the map seller, Antoine de Fer (fl.1644-d.1673), and grew to be one of the most well-known mapmakers in France in the seventeenth century. He was apprenticed in 1659 to the engraver Louis Spirinx at the age of twelve. Following the death of his father in 1673, Nicholas worked with his mother to continue the family business. On her retirement in 1687 she passed the business to Nicolas in exchange for a crown a week, unlimited bread, and a pint of wine per day (Pastoureau).

His earliest known work is a map of the Canal of Languedoc in 1669. Arguably his most famous production is his wall map of America, published in 1698. It is renowned for the beaver scene. From 1690 he began publishing his own books such as ‘Les Forces de l’Europe’, and the ‘Petit et Nouveau Atlas’ in 1697. His first wall map, in 1694, was naturally of the world, and this was followed by a set of four continents. After his death in 1720, the business ultimately passed to two sons-in-law, Guillaume Danet, and Jacques-Francois Bénard. Provenance: Doreen Green 2005; private English collection. Pastoureau (1984) Fer XII A no. 11; Shirley (1988) De Fer 1 st.2; Shirley (2004) T.Fer 2a.