The classic decorative map of Scotland with Royal portraits

SPEED, John.

The Kingdome of Scotland.
London: George Humble, 1627. Coloured. 390 x 510mm.

A rightly famous map of Scotland, with an inset of the Orkneys. The vignette portraits are James VI of Scotland (also James I of England), his wife Anne and their two sons, Henry, Prince of Wales, and Charles (later Charles I). On the reverse is a letterpress text: ''The Type of the Famous Kingdome of Scotland, With a Generall Description of Sundry Things Remarkeable Therein''.
In 1652 the Puritan ascendancy made it politic to re-engrave the plate: away went the Royal family, to be replaced by costume vignettes of a 'Scotch' (i.e. lowland) man & woman and their wilder 'Highland' neighbours.


Stock ID : 20858