Code: 58445
Date: 1627
Long title: Midle-Sex described with the most famous Cities of London and Westminster
Copper engraving with later hand colouring Overall size : 51.4cms.x 40.1cms. Image size : 502mm.x 383mm. Speed used the information for this map from the unpublished map by John Norden. Norden was a contemporary of Saxton and was the first to plan a series of county histories; however he failed to attract sufficient backing for his enterprise and never completed it. His surveying was superior to Saxton's, and Speed preferred to use Norden as a source where possible. Engraved by Jodocus Hondius , the map has inset town plans of London and Westminster (also after Norden's surveys published 1593) and views of St Paul's and Westminster Cathedral. Much of the area is what is now Greater London with villages such as "Hamsted", "Pancras", "Kensington" and "Paddington" marked around the city. . Towns marked include Enfield, Pancras, Osterley and Staines. Centrefold strengthened by laying down the backstrip. When held up to the light it is clear that two, now virtually invisible wormholes either side of the centrefold in the Brokeley Hills benefit from this as does what may have been a small split at the bottom of the centrefold. Browning to edges . The two lower corners show the Church of St. Peter's, Westminster on the left and St. Paul's on the right. This is the medieval Cathedral of St. Pauls, just after it had lost its spire in 1561 and before the Great Fire of 1666, in which it burned down and was then rebuilt in its current form by Sir Christopher Wren. Above these two vignettes are two text panels in the form of open volumes, one describing the two churches below on the left the other describing London on the right. Two large vignettes on the upper left and right corners depict Westminster and London respectively. SKELTON: 18. Stunning map with beautiful hand colour and in very good condition
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.`
