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Description

The First Folio Sized Map of the Arabian Peninsula engraved and published in England.

Nice example of this early state of Richard Blome's map of Arabia, distinguishable from the later states by the dedication cartouche with 4 coats of arms of Blome's earliest patrons.  

The map demonstrates the naïve engraving style characteristic of 17th Century English engravers, and features an elaborate heraldic cartouche with dedications to Blome's patrons, sailing ships and sea monsters. Blome's maps, because of their rarity and importance in the history of English Cartography, are essential items for regional collectors.

Blome first began engraving maps for his Geographical Description Of The Four Parts Of The World in 1667. The completed volume was in small folio, and contained 24 maps (plus one duplicate), engraved by Francis Lamb, Thomas Burnford and Wenceslas Hollar. Blome's principal handicap in the production of the atlas was the lack of a domestic mapmaking environment comparable with that in Europe. Also, to finance his work, he undertook subscribers, in exchange for a promise, to add their coat of arms to certain maps. In later editions, if the renewal fee was not paid, Blome added a different subscribers coat of arms, leading to multiple images on various editions of the same map.

Blome's work was the first English World atlas entirely produced in England, as the earlier atlas by John Speed contained maps primarily engraved by Hondius and Goos, in Amsterdam.