A rare issue of John Speed’s famous map of Buckinghamshire

A fine example of one of the most decorative maps of Buckinghamshire, with inset plans of Buckingham and Reading and armorials within architectural frames. It was engraved by Jodocus Hondius and first published in John Speed's county atlas, 'The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine' in 1611. This example comes from the Roger Rea issue, which was beset with disaster: according to an advert for the 1676 Bassett & Chiswell edition, ''the greatest part of an Impression, then newly Printed, [was] destroyed by the late dreadful Fire, 1666". Surviving examples of any Rea map are thus rare.