Wilshire (Wiltshire) FIRST EDITION by John Speed

Wilshire (Wiltshire) FIRST EDITION by John Speed

Code: 54350

£585.00 Approx $737.7, €682.61
 

Date: 1611

FIRST EDITION.  Copper engraving. Fine later hand colouring.  Overall size : 52.6cms x 45.3cms. Image size; 502mm x 382mm.  English text verso describing the history and geography of the area. Town plan of Salesbury (Salisbury) top left; Stonehenge top right; below which is a description of this ‘ ancient Monument’  surrounded by a decorative border with the names of three major figures buried at Stonehenge (includes Uther Pendragon). 'With eight strong Castles this County hath beene guarded; in nineteene Market Townes her commodities are traded: into twenty nine Hundreds for businesse is divided, and in them are seated three hundred and foure Parish-Churches.'  Repairs on verso to top of centrefold and to two tears either side of centrefold bottom margin one 5 cms into map.  Centrefold archivally strengthed 8 cms  on verso and, as aforementioned, at top of centrefold and one nick left margin but a very attractively coloured example of the rare first edition

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 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
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 aquainted 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 apppearance. Their artistry has guaranteed the collectability of these maps in the centuries that have followed.


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 aquainted 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 apppearance. Their artistry has guaranteed the collectability of these maps in the centuries that have followed.