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1676 John Speed
$ 1,500.00
Description

Nice example of John Speed's map of Russia, from the 1676 edition of Speed's Prospect of The Most Famous Parts of the World. . . , published by Bassett & Chiswell in 1676.

The 1676 edition of Speed's Prospect is the first edition in 50 years to include new maps. For this edition, the publishers (Speed had been dead for 50 years) added this map of Russia, along with maps of Southeast Asia, New England & Nw York, Virginia & Maryland, Carolina, Jamaica & Barbadoes, Bermuda and Canaan. As a result, these are by far the scarcest of the regional maps from Speed's Atlas.

The map includes a fine plan of Russia (drawn from Blaeu's maps), 3 views, two indigenous scenes and a cartouche over the description "The Habit of Russians," which includes a coat of arms.

John Speed Biography

John Speed (1551 or '52 - 28 July 1629) was the best known English mapmaker of the Stuart period. Speed came to mapmaking late in life, producing his first maps in the 1590s and entering the trade in earnest when he was almost 60 years old.

John Speed's fame, which continues to this day, lies with two atlases, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine (first published 1612), and the Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World (1627). While The Theatre ... started as solely a county atlas, it grew into an impressive world atlas with the inclusion of the Prospect in 1627. The plates for the atlas passed through many hands in the 17th century, and the book finally reached its apotheosis in 1676 when it was published by Thomas Bassett and Richard Chiswell, with a number of important maps added for the first time.