Early Pocket-Sized Speed Atlas of England & Wales
Shakespeare's Britain
A very nice miniature Speed atlas, the second such production after the edition of 1627. Skelton identified three distinct editions, all of which had the same engraved title page dated 1627. The maps are by Pieter van den Keere. Although the title page states 1627, ESTC suggests a date of 1632 for this edition. The example at hand with leaf A2v line 14 of text ending: behoue- (conforming to STC 23036).
This is the second in a series of ’pocket editions’ of Speed’s atlas. The type setting is different from the first pocket edition (STC 23035; Skelton 17) but the title page and the maps are printed from the same plates. This edition was probably issued in 1632. It contains 63 maps. The map of ’Midia’, although listed as no. 64 in the contents table is omitted. 40 of the maps are printed from Pieter van den Keere’s plates of 1599 or later with some re-engraving. The 23 new maps are generally cruder in execution and do not seem to be from Van den Keere’s hand. - STC
The reference in the title to a "farr larger Voulume Done by John Speed" refers to his Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine (1611), issued in folio.
With a table: A Catalogue of all the Shires, Citties, Bishoprickes, Market Townes, Castles, Parishes, Rivers, Bridges, Chases, Forrests, and Parkes, conteyned in every particular shire of the Kingdom of England.
According to Skelton, who compiled a detailed table showing the development of cracks in the plates of some of the maps, the actual dates for the three editions "may be assumed to be those of the folio editions of the Theatre in 1627, 1632, and 1646."
The map of Ireland is present herein and in very nice condition.
Includes the following maps:
- England, Scotland, and Ireland.
- The Kingdome of England.
- Kent.
- Sussex.
- Surrey.
- Southampton.
- The Isle of Wight .
- Dorcetshire.
- Devonshire.
- Cornwall.
- Somersetshire.
- Wiltshire.
- Barkshire.
- Middlesex.
- Essex County.
- Suffolk.
- Norfolk.
- Cambridgeshire.
- Hartfordshire.
- Bedfordshire.
- Buckinghamshire.
- Oxfordshire. [vertical break through center, a defect in the copper-plate].
- Glocestershire [out of order]
- Herefordshire.
- Worcestershire.
- Warwickeshire.
- Northamptonshire.
- Huntingtonshire.
- Rutlandshire.
- Leicestershire.
- Lincolnshire.
- Notinghamshire
- Darbyshire.
- Staffordshire.
- Shropshire.
- Chester.
- Lancashire.
- Yorkshire. [Small tape repair to verso, tiny one-inch paper loss (sliver) in upper left corner, affecting a few letters].
- Bishopprick of Durham.
- Westmoreland and Cumberland.
- Northumberland.
- The Isle of Man.
- The Holy Land / Garnsey / Farne Isle / Jersey.
- Wales.
- Pembrokeshire.
- Radnorshire.
- Glamorganshire.
- Monmouthshire.
- Montgomeryshire.
- Denbighshire and Flint.
- Anglesey and Carnarvan.
- The Kingdome of Scotland.
- The South pt. of Scotland wherin are contayned Edinbrough, St. Andrew and Clasco, Archbisho:
- The Southern parte of Scotland, wherin is ye Strange Lake Lomund.
- [LACKING:] Easterne part of Scotland.
- Part of Scotland, Stranauern.
- The Iles of Hebrides.
- [LACKING:] Cathanes and Orknay.
- The Kingdom of Irland.
- Mounster.
- Leinster.
- Connaught.
- Ulster.
John Speed (1551 or '52 - 28 July 1629) was the best known English mapmaker of the Stuart period. Speed came to mapmaking late in life, producing his first maps in the 1590s and entering the trade in earnest when he was almost 60 years old.
John Speed's fame, which continues to this day, lies with two atlases, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine (first published 1612), and the Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World (1627). While The Theatre ... started as solely a county atlas, it grew into an impressive world atlas with the inclusion of the Prospect in 1627. The plates for the atlas passed through many hands in the 17th century, and the book finally reached its apotheosis in 1676 when it was published by Thomas Bassett and Richard Chiswell, with a number of important maps added for the first time.