An extremely rare anti-smuggling chart of Scotland’s east coast

A large and detailed chart of the eastern coast of Scotland from the English border north to Portlethen (a few miles south of Aberdeen), as well as the Firth of Forth inland to Edinburgh and Sterling, and the Tay to Dundee and Perth. Scottish surveyor John Anslie (1745-1828) had been an apprentice of Thomas Jefferys. This was one of five charts of the eastern Scottish coastline by Ainslie, apparently commissioned for the use of H.M. Customs only, evident by the focus on the names of ports, bays and coastal villages capable of harbouring smugglers rather than soundings. According to the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, ''Ainslie's Charts of the East Coast, 1784-85, were never published''.