Mostlymaps

Tel: +44 (0)1497 820539
Email: info@mostlymaps.com
Web site: https://www.mostlymaps.com/

Breknoke (Breconshire) by John Speed

£345.00 Approx $435.06, €402.57

Code: 53487



Date:1662

Roger Rea edition.  Long title:Breknoke (Breconshire)Both Shyre and Towne described Copper engraving with later hand colouring. Overall size : 53.5cms x 41.4cms. Image size : 507mm x 381mm. Title in cartouche, coat of arms above. Scale of distance. Inset plan of Brecon.  Prince of Wales feathers and royal l ions in two cartouches .  Blank back which is uncommon and some collectors only collect blank backed examples. Small brown spot below Prince of Wales feathers; two small repaired tears bottom margin and top of centrefold.  Publisher’s crease top right corner strengthened on verso else very good.  

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 Speed’s maps are unique historical documents of their time and the town plans featured on the maps are in most cases the first information we have of their early apppearance.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.