UK, Wales, Holyhead, Anglesey, Mount/Page, 1781, Holy-Head

Large unusual copper engraving showing a 1781 edition of the Greenvile Collins's sea chart of Holy Island, the town and port of Holyhead, and the adjacent coast of Anglesey, Wales.

Holy Island (Welsh: Ynys Gybi, 'the island of (Saint) Cybi') is an island on the western side of the larger Isle of Anglesey, Wales, from which it is separated by the Cymyran Strait. It is called "Holy" because of the high concentration of standing stones, burial chambers and other religious sites on the small island. The alternative English name of the island is Holyhead Island.

Decorated with a decorated title, a mileage scale & dedicatory cartouche, a inset coastal profile, four sailing ships, two profiles, rhumb lines and a compass rose.
Antique copperplate sea chart of Holy-Head Island and The Skerries, showing part of the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales. Drawn by Captain Greenvile Collins, Hydrographer to King Charles II.

This nautical chart features coastal soundings, anchorages, sandbanks, and a decorative cartouche dedicating the map to Capt. William Wright. The coastlines are highlighted with hand coloring, a compass rose radiates rhumb lines, and sailing ships animate the waters.

Mapmaker – Captain Greenvile Collins (1643–1694):
Collins was a Royal Navy officer and hydrographer commissioned in 1676 by King Charles II to survey the British coastlines. His monumental work, the Great Britain’s Coasting Pilot (1693), became the first maritime atlas of England, Scotland, and Wales, setting a new standard for nautical cartography. This chart of Holy-Head is among the most important Welsh plates in the series.

Source: Greenville Collins. Great-Britain's Coasting Pilot: being a new and exact survey of the sea-coast of England and Scotland, London: for Mount and Page, 1781.

Good-very good condition. Light waterstains on the left and right, some small repairs in the central fold (not affecting the image), thick paper, clear print, wide margins. Central fold (as published).

Image 44x56cm, sheet 53x61cm