A very rare example of John Speed’s map of the county of Wiltshire in its first issue in full original wash colour. The map is derived from that published by Christopher Saxton in 1576 and enhanced by the addition of boundaries, ‘the Shires diuisions, into Lathes, Hundreds, Wapentakes and Cantreds … I have separated’. He goes on to tell us that the source for much of this information was the ‘Parlament Rowles’. Roads are not yet identified. In the upper corners are plans of ‘Salesbury’ and ‘Stonehenge’. That of Salisbury is believed to be the work of Speed himself. The draft manuscripts for many of these reside at Merton College, Oxford. The atlas provided the first comprehensive collection of English town plans, some the earliest of their kind.

This map was engraved by Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612) and was completed by 1610 as written in his imprint at the bottom. The general title page is dated 1611 but 1612 appears in the imprint of the Third and Fourth books. The final work was printed by William Hall and John Beale for John Sudbury and George Humble. The woodblocks cut for the verso text are the work of Christopher Schwytzer. The text itself is largely derived from that of William Camden’s ‘Britannia’.

John Speed (1552-1629) is the best known and, among collectors, the most popular British cartographer. He 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. The 67 maps are drawn principally from those of Christopher Saxton and where available John Norden. Five maps are acknowledged to each of them. Three of them are derived from William Smith.

Bendall, Sarah (2002) ‘Draft Town Maps for John Speed’s ‘Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine”, in Imago Mundi 54 pp. 30-45; Chubb (1911) Chubb (1927) 24; ESTC S11797; Globe (1985) p. 99; Hind (1952-64) II pp. 67-95; Hodson (1974) 7.1; Kingley (1982) pp. 215-6, 7.1; Schilder MCN VII pp. 481-2; Schilder (2008) VIII pp. 165-70; Shirley (2004) T.Spe 1b; Skelton (1970) 7; Tooley (1977) ‘John Speed. A Personal View’, in The Map Collector no. 1 pp. 4-9; Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011) pp. 328-9, 335-6 & 641-2.