Emanuel Bowen (1694 – 8 May 1767) was a Welsh map engraver who achieved the unique distinction of becoming Royal Mapmaker to both King George II of Great Britain and Louis XV of France. Born in Tal-y-Llychau (now Talley), Carmarthenshire, Wales, Bowen was highly regarded by his contemporaries for producing some of the largest, most detailed, and most accurate maps of his era. He worked with most British cartographic figures of the period, including John Owen and Herman Moll. One of his earliest engraved works, Britannia Depicta, published in 1720, contained over two hundred road maps together with a miniature county map of each of the counties of England and Wales. It followed on John Ogilby's earlier work with updated style of historical and heraldic detail. It was an unusual feature of the atlas that the maps were engraved on both sides of each page, resulting in a handier-sized book. By 1726 he was noted as one of the leading London engravers. Despite his royal patronage and renown, Bowen, like many cartographers of his day, died in poverty. His son, Thomas Bowen (1733–1790), carried on the business, but would ultimately suffer a similar fate, dying in a Clerkenwell workhouse in 1790. His cultural impact is significant as his work contributed to the advancement of cartography during the 18th century, particularly in the areas of road maps and county maps. His maps became quite famous because they served a function that made his maps easier to read than other maps that were produced in his time. Despite his maps being famous and despite him being appointed the royal mapmaker for royalty, Bowen wound up fading away into obscurity and he died in poverty as did his son, who also went into the family business. However, nowadays, some of his original maps, and even prints of his maps, are now worth quite a bit of money.
