Emmanuel Bowen; c1690-1767.
Thomas Bowen, son; c1740-1790.

Bowen set up his map and print selling business in London in 1714.
His prolific work made him prominent, and recognized with royal appointments by both George II of England, and Louis XV of France.
He teamed up with his most influential peers, to publish renowned works, such as "Britania Depicta" with John Owen in 1720, parts of "A Complete System of Geography" and of "Complete Collection of Voyages" with Thomas Jefferys in 1744, "Atlas Minimus" with John Gibson in 1758.
But his claim to fame came from his collaboration with Thomas Kitchin on "The Large English Atlas" in 1755, which was considered the most reliable geographic work on the English counties until the Ordinance Surveys of the 19th century.
He was also a very crucial contributor to the so-called London Magazines. The heavy demand for ever newer maps, due to the rapidly changing situations of the French and Indian war, the conflicts with Spain in the Caribbean, the seven year war and the American war of independence, provided steady activity for his trade, but little revenues.
Upon his death, his son Thomas continued the practice. He was not more fortunate than his father: he too died near poverty in 1790.

An exact draught of the castle of San Lorenzo ye village & river of Chagre..

This small (6 9/16" X 5 3/8") and instructive plan was printed for the July 1740 "The Gentleman's Magazine".
It provides a wealth of information on Admiral Vernon attack and capture of the town of Chagre (terminus of the "camino a Cruces", one of the alternates ways of crossing the Isthmus from Panama to the Atlantic).
During the war of Jenkin's ear, Vernon commanded a fleet whose mission was to wreck havoc on the Spanish settlements in the Caribbean.
He proceeded to sack Chagre and Porto Bello, but he failed miserably in his sieges of both Cartagena and San Tiago of Cuba.
It also alludes to the pirate attack of 1670, led by Henry Morgan while he was on his way to capture and burn to the ground Panama.
No text on verso.