By arguably the most famous English cartographer, John Speed (1552-1629). First published in 1612 this example was issued in the Latin edition entitled ‘Theatrum Imperii Magnae Britanniae’, 1616. It was the first atlas of the whole British Isles. He was a tailor by trade and had a fascination for history. He used numerous sources for the counties and had the plates engraved by Jodocus Hondius in Amsterdam. The book took several years to prepare hence earlier dates appear on some. Studying the text on the reverse we can identify this as a 1646 edition, or one of those in the early 1650s. His maps are noted for being the first to include the boundaries of the hundreds, and for introducing town plans on the maps. Here we find a plan of ‘Norwiche’ upper right and upper left a battle scene followed by a description of the two rebellions in the county of 1381 and 1549. The Latin edition was issued specifically for the continental market and published by John Sudbury and George Humble. This comes complete with the letter of authenticity and provenance dated 19 December 1969. Frostick Norfolk 8.2; Hodson 7.3; Skelton 36.