1710 Herman Moll Large Antique Map of England & Wales Beautiful Italy Size: 21 1 2in x 17 Size: 21 1 2in x 17 1 2in (545mm x 445mm) Louis XIVs decision to cross the Rhine in September 1688 was designed to extend his influence and pressure the Holy Roman Empire into accepting his territorial and dynastic claims The maps undoubtedly owed much of their popularity to the splendid engravings of high quality made in the workshops in Amsterdam of Jodocus Hondius to whom Speed sent his manuscripts started about 1570 and published in 1579 the first printed set of county maps and the first countrywide atlas on such a splendid scale produced anywhere