Code: 58911
Date: 1646
Copper engraving; later but not recent hand colouring. (Ynys Mon in Welsh) .Overall size : 53cms x 40.4cms. Image size : 512mm x 383mm. Compass rose, title in cartouche, inset plan of Beaumaris (mapped by Speed himself as the,’scale of pases at the bottom of the town plan is thought to indicate). English text on verso. Engraving by Jodocus Hondius with his trade mark shot silk sea. Centrefold as published. one fox spot next to lower ship ; and one near the ‘H’ in The Vergivian Sea which was Ptolemy’s name for the Celtic sea around Ireland ; overall toning else very good condition and a good strong impression.
Until his late thirties, John Speed was a tailor by trade but his passion for history and map-making led him to gain a patron in Sir Fulke Greville, the poet and statesman, who found him a post in the customs and helped subsidize his map-making, giving him “full liberty to express the inclination of my mind”. He became acquainted with the publisher William Camden, whose descriptive text was used by Speed for most of the maps in his atlas “The Theatre of Empire of Great Britain” published most probably in 1612 although it bears the date 1611 on the main title page. The maps were engraved in Amsterdam by Jodocus Hondius, one of the foremost engravers of his time. Speed’s maps are unique historical documents of their time and the town plans featured on the maps are in most cases the first information we have of their early appearance. Their artistry has guaranteed the collectability of these maps in the centuries that have followed.
