One of only three privately-held examples of the first state of this wonderful circa 1600 map of England and Wales engraved by Petrus Kaerius.
The map features a cartouche at the left crediting Christopher Saxton's 1579 map with the basis for this cartography. In the present map, Saxton's catalog of locations has been expanded considerably into a large table in the upper-right corner.
Saxton's map was often copied in the late-16th and 17th centuries, and this is perhaps the scarcest of its derivatives.
The wonderful strapwork decorative embellishments are characteristic of 1590s Dutch engraving, which was brought to its apex in separately-issued maps such as this.
Rarity
This is one of only three examples recorded in private hands (four are known in institutional collections). The other two privately-held examples are in the Kelly Collection, from which this example was sold in 2006.
In the second state, the "1579" date is removed.
Provenance
Kelly Collection;
Richard Edwards