Bankes' System of Universal Geography

A New Royal, Authentic and Complete System of Universal Geography, published in 1789 and attributed to Thomas Bankes, Edward Warren Blake, Alexander Cook, with maps by Thomas Bowen, was a grand and richly illustrated compendium of global geography, ethnography, and exploration, aimed at a broad 18th-century readership. Issued in parts and later bound in folio format, it was published by C. Cooke of 17 Paternoster Row, a leading figure in popular educational publishing. This ambitious work combined narrative accounts of the world’s regions—including newly explored territories in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific—with lavish engravings and maps, many of which were drawn or engraved by Thomas Bowen, son of Emanuel Bowen. The atlas and plates are notable for their decorative detail and for reflecting the period’s imperial and commercial interests. Bankes’ Universal Geography was highly influential in shaping British popular knowledge of the wider world at the close of the 18th century.