Cambridgeshire FIRST EDITION: by "Speed, John": Antique Maps

Cambridgeshire FIRST EDITION

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by:: "Speed, John"
Description:: "FIRST EDITION. Copper engraving. Possibly early hand colouring, certainly not modern. Overall size : 52.3cm. x 38.8cm. Image size : 517mm. x 383mm. Centre fold as issued. Little browning in top blanks around the area of the royal coat of arms and again at bottom of centrefold; trimmed to the neatline at bottom margin and into the neatline on the right hand side; browning to verso; two small remains of tape (each 2cms x 1cm) at top right and left on verso; possibly a little patch of strengthening on verso of centrefold, very hard to tell; one area of weakness 27mm x 4mm which results in a small loss of English text on verso, not visible from front; one pinprick of light visible when held up to the light but despite this a glorious map being the exceedingly rare first edition state of one of the most desirable of Speed’s maps. A rare opportunity for a Cantab scholar.. This is one of the most decorative maps of the county, with two columns of college arms, a plan of the city of Cambridge and the figures of four scholars. Unfortunately, there are no surviving records of how many examples of the First Edition (or indeed of any edition) were printed. One might speculate that the First Edition could have numbered between about five hundred and one thousand examples. It should be remembered that the market for maps was not well developed in England in 1612. This, together with the cost of the atlas, the need for a second edition soon afterwards, and the high quality of impressions from the third, Latin text, edition of 1616, suggests that the first print-run may have been closer to five hundred copies or so. Unfortunately, until an attempt is made at a census of surviving examples, these figures can be regarded as only the roughest of estimates. Ashley Baynton-Williams see http://www.mapforum.com/02/speed.htm"
Publisher:: Bassett & Chiswell
Published Date:: 1611
MostlyMaps ID:: 48692
Price :: £1200.00

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