Lot 107: SPEED, JOHN.

THE THEATRE OF THE EMPIRE OF GREAT-BRITAIN... TOGETHER WITH A PROSPECT OF THE MOST FAMOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD. .LONDON..: T. BASSETT & R. CHISWELL, 1676.
5 parts in one volume, folio (435 x 300mm.), engraved additional title and achievement of Charles II, printed title in red and black, four printed sectional titles, 68 general and county maps, 5 printed tables of road distances, the Prospect with 28 maps of all parts of the world (including the twin-hemispherical world map and 6 relating to the Americas), together 96 engraved maps, near contemporary rough calf, a few maps with chips and tears or longer tears at centrefold, map of Middlesex with slight loss

Chubb XXVII; Phillips, Atlases 488; Skelton 92; Wing S4886

5th Earl of Rosebery, armorial bookplate

The 1676 edition of the Prospect includes eight new maps (on seven mapsheets) appearing for the first time: Virginia and Maryland, New England, Carolina, Jamaica and Barbados, East India, Russia and Canaan.

John Speed (1551/2-1629) is almost certainly the most famous of all English map-makers. He was the author of the most important and prestigious atlas of his day, and his maps are highly sought-after today. Speed is best known for two atlases, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, first published in 1612, and the Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World, produced in 1627 with the help of his son (Speed had lost his sight by this time). The present posthumous 1676 edition is an amalgamation of these two great works of cartography, the first time they appeared together.

Speed was born at Farndon, Cheshire and settled in London in about 1582. While initially earning a living as a tailor, Speed developed a strong interest in history, particularly antiquities and genealogies, and he was responsible for the coins in Camden's Britannia, Biblical genealogies, and the "Progenie of Geoffrey Chaucer", published in the Works of 1598. His first map, "Canaan in Biblical Times", was published in 1595. Shortly after, in 1598, Speed came to the attention of Sir Fulke Greville. Through Greville's patronage, Speed received a sinecure with the Customs Service, which guaranteed him a living, while giving him the freedom to pursue his interests.