Map of Devonshire and Exeter England; Antique Map by Benjamin Donn, 1765

This is a masterfully printed reproduction of a very rare and highly important 1765 wall map of Devonshire by Benjamin Donn. Drawn in twelve panels, this map covers the entirety of Devonshire or Devon from the English Channel to Barnstaple (Bideford) Bay and from Cornwall to Somerset at a scale of 1 inch to 1 mile. Donn also incorporates large insets of Exeter, Plymouth, Plymouth Dock, Stoke Town, and the Isle of Lundy. An elaborate decorative title cartouche with various allegorical elements appears in the lower left quadrant.In 1759, the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufacturers, and Commerce (since 1847 known as the Royal Society for the Arts), following the suggestion of the Cornish antiquarian William Borlase, offered a £100 award for a large scale one inch to the mile map of any English county. Benjamin Donn, the first to step up to the Borlase's challenge, began work on his map of Devon in 1760. Five years later Donn's extraordinary project reached completion. The Society was awed by the magnitude and detail of Donn's 'accurate, actual survey' and promptly awarded him the £100. Though the actual work of completing the survey and print the map cost Donn, by his own estimation, nearly £2000, the prestige of issuing the first large scale British county map earned him both robust subsequent sales and the admiration of his peers.