This lovely map of the county of Devon in its FIRST STATE is by arguably the most famous English cartographer, John Speed (1552-1629). Published in the ‘Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain’, 1612. 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. His maps are noted for being the first to include the boundaries of the hundreds, and for introducing town plans on the maps, in this case a fine one of ‘Excester’. Provenance: private English collection acquired Oxford c.1980. Batten & Bennett 6; Shirley BL T.Spe 1b; Skelton 7.