An attractive map of the county of Wiltshire by arguably the most famous English cartographer, John Speed (1552-1629). It was first published in the ‘Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain’, 1612. This example being from an edition c.1623 retaining the original imprints of John Sudbury and George Humble. It was the first atlas of the whole British Isles. The map includes a fine town plan of Salisbury upper left, and a view of Stonehenge upper right.

Speed was, like his father, a tailor by trade with a passion for history. On joining the Society of Antiquaries, he took his first steps towards the compilation of the atlas that has placed him among the cartographic immortals. He 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. This therefore is the first published state. His maps are noted for being the first to include the boundaries of the hundreds, and for introducing town plans on the maps. Chubb (1911) pp. 215-7; Skelton (1970) 7.