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The item illustrated and described below is sold, but we have another example in stock. To view the example which is currently being offered for sale, click the "View Details" button below.
Description

Richly colored example of the first edition of John Speed's map of China, showing George Humble in Popshead as the seller.

The Great Wall is depicted on the map, along with several annotations. Korea shown as an Island. Japan is also shown using a very curious depiction.

The map includes a portion of India within the Ganges region, extending well into Central Asia. In addition to the wonderful views showing a sailing land craft, manner of execution and city views of Macao and Quinzay and the costumed figures of Chinese, Japanese and Pegu men and women, there are interesting notes throughout the map on various historical & mythical aspects of China, including a region where men are seduced by wonderful illusions and dirt is spun into cloth.

Condition Description
Lower right figure replaced in facsimile.
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.