Caermarden by John Speed

Code: 49596

Author: John Speed

Publisher: Sudbury and Humble

Date published: 1627

Copper engraving, later hand colouring. Overall size : 52.3cms.x 40cms. Image size : 500mm.x 377mm. Title in cartouche surmounted by the royal lion and unicorn. Scale of miles and town plan of Caermarden. English Text verso. Centre fold as issued. Two near invisible paper repairs at extreme top and bottom of centrefold on verso ; little show through and browning in top blank else 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 aquainted with the publisher William Camden