Moll Map of the West Indies, 1715

The story of this map

Herman Moll’s map of the West Indies is the Caribbean of the early 1700s laid out for a London reader: which islands belonged to Spain, England, France and Holland, which way the trade winds blew, and the routes the Spanish treasure galleons and flota took from port to port. The Library of Congress copy, dated around 1715, is coloured by hand, and the long title says all of this in Moll’s own words.

What makes it such a good wall map are the extras. Six inset plans of Caribbean ports sit along the edges, small harbour charts with their approaches and anchorages, and dotted lines trace the sailing tracks across the sea. It is dedicated to William Paterson, the Scottish financier, which gives the sheet a link to the money and ambition behind Atlantic trade. Florida, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola and the string of the Lesser Antilles are all named as an early Georgian navigator would have known them.

This is a favourite for anyone with a boat, a beach house or simply a fondness for the age of sail. It looks especially right in a natural oak frame in a hallway, a den or a room with a view of water.

It belongs to our Antique World Maps collection and pairs naturally with Moll’s world map of 1719. Each print is made to order on archival matte paper and framed in the country of delivery.

Before and after

Left: the archive scan exactly as published. Right: the file that goes to the printer.

Archive scanRestored

Restoration notes

Restoration plan: the archive's derivative images appear rotated relative to the master scan, so confirm and correct orientation on download. Crop scan margins, balance colour cast and levels while keeping the paper tone and hand colour, remove library stamps and scanner artefacts if present, gentle sharpening. No repainting of original content.

Every print carries its archive credit on the packing slip. Paper tone and small imperfections of the original are kept on purpose; nothing is redrawn.