The first atlas issue of the Jodocus Hondius map of the British Isles

A superb and detailed map of the British Isles, with three attractive Baroque title cartouches with swags and putti, one holding an inset of the Orkneys, the other two for the scale and title. This map was engraved in 1617 by the son of the Jodocus Hondius who engraved John Speed's county maps. Published separately, it originally had borders with ten costume vignettes and fourteen town plans, and is known by only two examples. In 1631 Jodocus's brother Henricus cut the borders off the printing plate so that it would fit into an atlas, adding his name and date, and issuing it in an 'Appendix' that year. This example comes from the next complete edition of the Mercator/Hondius two-volume atlas, 1633.