Les Provinces Des Pays-Bas Catholiques ou A Most Exact Map of Flanders or Austrian Netherlands & c.

Copper-engraving, with outline period hand-colouring, on two joined sheets, overall sheet size: 24 3/4 x 41inches. Good condition apart from a few small expertly repaired tears. A fine large format map inspired by the War of the Spanish Succession, and showing the 'Austrian' Netherlands as they stood following the treaty of Utrecht in 1713. This fascinating map can be dated to after the treaty of Utrecht (which was signed in 1712) as this was when Austria was given the Netherlands and they are designated the 'Austrian Netherlands' in the title. The 'no-later than' date is based on the assumption that Moll would have removed the Duke of Ormond as the dedicatee very soon after his impeachment in June 1715 for siding with the Jacobins. In addition to the main map, the engraved area also includes three smaller 'vignettes': one a small scale map of the main roads to Paris from the north, the second an extension of an area on the main map, and a final image, with a key beneath, that attempts to explain the various 'works used in Fortification with the method of an Attack' Herman Moll came to London around 1678 from either Holland or Germany. He found work as a cartographical engraver, working for Moses Pitt, among others. By 1688 he had his own shop. Moll had a gift for making interesting friends and these included Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift (he provided "maps" for Robinson Crusoe and for Gulliver's Travels), William Dampier and Woodes Rogers, explorer-buccaneers and Robert Hooke, the scientist.…