AN EXTREMELY RARE MAP ISSUED JUST PRIOR TO THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON. Peter Stent was one of the largest stockists of prints and maps in the period before the restoration of Charles II. However he is known more for his ownership of older copperplates rather than the production of new material. This map of England and Wales is one of the few exceptions. It was first issued in 1662 of which only two known examples survive in the British Library and the Sutherland Library at the Bodleian. It draws on the map of John Speed as acknowledged. The main difference is in the decoration, Speed flanked his map with costumed figures, Stent places a series of 29 small views of the main towns. These views are the work of Wenceslaus Hollar, the famous topographical engraver of the mid-seventeenth century. With an obvious glance at the Restoration a list of the English kings since William the Conqueror is made along with a table of the shires.

A second state is dated 1665 of which only one known example survives in the British Library. Shortly after the main post roads were added to create this third state. A note under the list of Kings states ‘The Roads are Marked thus ===’. There are only three recorded examples of this state. In 1665 John Overton would acquire the plate at the death of Stent, most likely to be of the plague raging in the city that year. This plate underwent a number of states, Shirley cited 6 but we now know of 10. This is an example of the third and last state issued by Stent just before his death. Globe (1985) no. 331c; Pennington 651A; Shirley British Isles ‘1650-1750’ Stent 1 not recording this state.