A scarce two-sheet map of England and Wales with side panels

A large and striking map of England and Wales, with an architectural frieze along the top and panels down the sides containing 18 town views (including London, Bristol, Liverpool and other major ports, plus Windsor Castle) and an extensive gazetteer. The lengthy title is within a title cartouche of military trophies, with Willdey's name hidden away in his advertisment for his 'great Toy and Print Shop the corner of Ludgate Street'. On the map the roads are depicted diagramatically, as straight lines with roundels containing the distances between each town. Shirley suggests the map was engraved in 1715, the year of his two-sheet map of the British Isles; the two maps were included in his atlas of 1717. This dates the map to only eight years after the Act of Union, with the short-lived attempt to rename England and Wales 'South Britain' and Scotland 'North Britain' to encourage unity. The first Hanovarian king, George I, has come to the throne only the year before.