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Code: 53395
Author: Speed, John
Date published: 1631
Copper engraving by Jodocus Hondius. Overall sheet size: 52.2cms x 41.1cms; image size: 513mm x 381mm. Highly decorative map of the British Isles. Speed has compiled the map from various sources: Saxton for England & Wales, Hondius's map of 1591 for Ireland & Mercator for Scotland. The two views show London c.1600, with St Paul's and the Tower on the North bank and the Globe and the Bear-baiting ring on the South; and Edinburgh, showing the city under siege c.1544. The map includes a compass rose, cherubs, ships, sea monsters, the Royal coats of arms, ancient coins showing Britannia and Cunobelin - the latter known to Shakespeare as Cymbeline. SHIRLEY: 316. English text on verso describing the history and geography of the isles: ' The Iland of Great Britaine..is of many accounted the greatest Island in the World Iustus Lypsius gives that praise to Cuba in America as the Orientall Navigators doe unto Sumatra or to Madagascar...' Overall toning only visible in the margins and the verso. Old strengthening with paper 7.2cms from bottom of centrefold and 17.5cms and 10.5cms virtually invisible old paper strengthening to bottom and right margin and similarly on bottom left margin (very hard to see on verso and not noticeable from front apart from extreme margin tips). Very slight waterstain bottom centrefold in margin else stunning map in very good condition. Speed's map is considered the most decorative map of the British Isles to appear in a commercial atlas in the 17th Century. 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