Speed’s map of the Holy Land

An important map of The Holy Land , published in the 'Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World', the first English atlas of the world. It is decorated with a plan of biblical Jerusalem, surrounded by vignettes of artifacts from the Temple. The title cartouche features portraits of Moses and Aaron. On the map the route of the Exodus is marked. On the reverse of the sheet is an English text, 'The Description of Palestine', containing a mixture of fact and amusing myth. Speed acknowledges the work of John More (d.1592), a Puritan minister of St. Andrew's Church, Norwich. Speed bought a map that More had been working on and completed it, publishing it in his 'Genealogies of Holy Scriptures' of 1611. Although the Prospect was first published in 1627, the map was not included until this 1676 edition, the only historic map in the atlas.