The first English atlas map of Denmark

SPEED, John.

The Kingdome of Denmarke augmented by John Speede...
London: Roger Rea & Son, 1665. Coloured. 390 x 500mm.

Repair to top right corner, otherwise a very fine example

Highly decorative early map of Denmark, engraved by Evert Symonz van Hamersvelt for Speed's 'Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World', the first English atlas of the world, first issued 1627. It is decorated with ten costume vignettes down the sides and six city prospects, including Copenhagen & Hamburg (as Holstein was still subject to Denmark at the time), along the top.
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.


Stock ID : 23991