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Code: 52970
Author: Speed, John
Publisher: John Sudbury and George Humbell
Date published: 1614
2nd edition. Long title: Penbrokeshyre (Pembrokeshire)described and the sittuations both of Penbroke and St Davids shewed in due form as they were taken by John Speed. Copper engraving, later hand colouring.Overall size : 52.2cms.x 40.6cms. Image size : 498mm x 374mm. Decorative cartouche surmounted by royal coat of arms containing county name. Plan of Penbroke at upper left, plan of St.Davids lower right. Scale of distance at bottom centre. Eleven armorials. English text to verso. Centre fold as issued. Very faint speckling in margins otherwise superb condition. Alasdair Hawkyard in his commentary in the counties of Britain by John Speed declares the: Speed's map for Pembrokeshire is one of the most successful in the way it conveys a sense of the county's landscape with its hilly uplands and less dramatic southern parts, and the variety of its coastline with its offshore islands and rocks, headlands and havens. Slate was quarried in the north of the county, and Pembrokeshire slates had been used in roofing Sir Thomas Gresham's Stock Exchange in London. Speed commented on the number of empty houses at Pembroke and the indifferent state of repair of all its buildings, and of St David's he said: A city with few inhabitants, and no more houses than inserted in the draught (drawing); yet hath it a fair cathedral church. Two repaired worm holes top and bottom of centrefold (they could have been directions for the binder however), only visible on verso; verso has some stray green handcolouring showthrough from the slightly heavy colour to the hills else very good condition of a good early edition. 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