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The First Map Printed in England and Engraved by and Englishman

A good example of the extremely rare Humfray Cole map of the Holy Land, the first map to be printed in England and engraved by an Englishman.

The map is an exceptional rarity, having been unknown to Laor.

Humfray Cole's map of the Holy Land appeared in the second edition of the Bishop's Bible, published in 1572. The map was likely commissioned by Archbishop Parker and bears the coat of arms of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, who was likely Cole's Patron.

The map notes with the engraver's signature "Graven bi Humfray Cole goldsmith an English man born in ye north and pertayaining to ye mint in the Tower 1572." While often described as a copperplate engraving, modern scholars have put forth the position that the map was in fact engraved and printed using a silver plate. Cole was engraver to the Royal Mint and as such would have have had access to silver and there are records of other maps - of high significance or importance - being engraved on silver.

The map is based upon Tilemanne Stella's 1557 map of the Holy Land, published in Wittenberg, the same source as utilized by Abraham Ortelius, among others.

This is the only map known to have been produced by Cole and is found in the second edition (1572) of the 'Bishop's Bible. Strangely, not all copies contain the map and it is not found in any of the numerous later editions. The map is similar to Arbaham Ortelius's map of 1570, but on Cole's map the place names have been changed to English and Cole adds little vignette depictions of bible scenes and stories.

Humfray Cole

Humfrey Cole (c. 1530-91) is perhaps best known as the first native-born mathematical instrument maker in the English trade. He came from the north of England but worked in London and had a shop or stall in St Paul's Churchyard. As well as being responsible for 26 surviving instruments, including astrolabes, sundials, altazimuth theodolites and compendia, he also had an official position in the Mint, in the Tower of London, as a die-sinker for coinage.

Recognized by contemporaries as the leading mathematical instrument maker of the day, Cole supplied navigational instruments for the voyages of Martin Frobisher in search of the North-West passage in the 1570s. As well as instruments, Cole also engraved maps, although only his map of the Holy Land appears to have survived.

Rarity

The present map is exceptionally rare and was unknown to Laor.

We are aware of only a single heavily damaged example appearing at auction and no examples in dealer catalogs on the past 30 years. The present example is likely the same example that was offered for sale at Sothebys in 1985 (1,320 GBP).