This is the FIRST ENGLISH EDITION of William Camden’s ‘Britannia’. It was translated from the Latin by Philemon Holland, a schoolmaster of Coventry. All of the engraved plates are the same as those in the 1607 Latin edition. The text of the 1610 edition was not exhausted for some years and during this time the plates underwent two distinct alterations. The first added a compass rose to ten maps (Cornwall, Sussex, Middlesex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Northants, Leicester, Rutland, Lincoln and Warwick) and a circle was added to the cruciform indicator on that of Wiltshire. The third state was created by the addition of plate numbers to all of the maps except Buckingham, Huntingdon, Shropshire, Cheshire, Radnor, Pembroke, Merionith, Denbigh, Flint, East Riding, North Riding, Scotland and Ireland. These thirteen therefore appear in just the one state throughout. That of Brecknock was replaced with another plate engraved by Robert Vaughan. This example of the atlas is one that bears the first alteration. The map of Brecknock in this example is still from the plate engraved by William Kip.

Provenance: manuscript inscription of ‘Robert Dawbers Lease Commencing att Lady Day 1715’ on first front free endpaper; bookplate of George Goyder inside upper cover; private collection. Chubb (1927) 19; ESTC S107167; Shirley (2004) T.Cam 1c; Skelton (1970) 6; Taylor (1968) pp. 9- 13; Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011) pp. 83-4, 324-5, 373-4 & 497.