An uncommon issue of Speed’s map of Warwickshire

An important map of Warwickshire, engraved by Jodocus Hondius in 1610 and published in John Speed's 'Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain', first published 1611-12. It is decorated with two town plans, Warwick & Coventry, strapwork cartouches for the title and panel of the arms of nine nobles, the Bear & Raqgged Staff emblem of the Dukes of Warick, and a vignette battle scene. The English text on the reverse gives a brief history and a gazetteer. 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.