A scarce issue of Speed's map of Cheshire

SPEED, John.

The Countye Palatine of Chester with that most ancient Citie described.
London: Roger Rea & Son, 1665. Coloured. 380 x 505mm.

An important map of Cheshire, engraved by Jodocus Hondius for John Speed's county atlas, 'The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain', first published 1611-12. It is one of the most decorative maps of the county with two royal crests held aloft by putti, armorials, a plan of Chester and galleons and sea-monsters around the Wirral. An English text on verso gives a history of the county and an extensive list of towns and villages.

Most of the Speed counties are derived from Saxton's maps: here Speed has used William Smith's revisions of Saxton, and the Braun & Hogenberg plan of Chester.
This example comes from the Roger Rea issue of the atlas, 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 : 24012