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Worcestershire FIRST EDITION by John Speed

£565.00 Approx $713.38, €660.82

Code: 54728



Date: 1611

First edition.  Copper engraving  with later hand colouring. Overall size : 52cms x 39.3cms . Image size : 506mm.x 381mm. English text to verso.  Inset plan of Worcester, arms of the the Families that have borne the title of  Worcester since the Conquest on the left side. Scales of distance at bottom left. English text to verso. Battle of Evesham with description. Centre fold as issued.  Some repairs top and bottom centrefold - please see second image.  Velvety, good impression as befits a 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 Speed’s maps are unique historical documents of their time and the town plans featured on the maps are in most cases the first information we have of their early apppearance.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.