A rare edition of Speed’s map of the north & East Ridings of Yorkshire

One of the most famous maps of the two ridings, engraved by Jodocus Hondius in 1610 and first published published in Speed's 'Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain', 1611-12. The two inset town plans are Richmond and York, and decorations include a strapwork title cartouche, a scale cartouche featuring cherubs with a pair of compasses, the Royal Crest, the arms of twenty nobles and sea monsters and galleons. 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.