An early example of Homann’s map of the British Isles with the portrait of Queen Anne. The famous German firm of cartographic publishers was founded by Johann Baptist Homann in 1702 in Nuremberg. In 1707 he published the ‘Neuer Atlas’ whose success continued for many years. In recognition of this Homann was elected to the Berlin Academy of Sciences. In 1715 he was appointed Geographer to the Emperor. This map of the British Isles is quite likely one of his earliest productions issued at the time of his first atlas. This is one of his more desirable works bearing portraits of firstly Queen Anne, then both George I and George II in various states and as Shirley concludes on different plates. This is an example of the first plate in an early state displaying Queen Anne and before the addition of the privilege. It was first issued in 1707, the year of the union of England and Scotland which is highlighted in the text above the title. Shirley identified this as being a second state with the addition of two lines from Ovid in the drapery above the portrait. Shirley’s count of 5 known states has now been expanded to 14! Research identifies this as being state 4. Provenance: Nikolaus Struck 2007: private English collection. Heinz (1997); Shirley (1988) Homann 2 plate 2 state 1.