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Rare Miniature Speed Atlas of the World

First edition of John Speed's miniature atlas of the world, issued by William Humble, son of George Humble, in 1646.

The elder Humble was the original publisher of the folio edition of the Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World, which was issued in 1627. The miniature atlas leveraged the intellectual property that the Humble family owned in the folio atlas and made it accessible to the masses in a smaller, less expensive format.

To engrave the maps in the atlas, Humble hired the experienced Dutch engraver Pieter van den Keere whose name is now closely associated with the "miniature Speeds." Indeed, all of the maps are signed with Van den Keere's Latinized name, Petrus Kaerius. The descriptive text accompanying the maps is quite extensive and accessible. Each of the engraved maps has text printed on the verso taken from Speed's folio atlas. The simple, typographic title page contains the list of maps and is dated 1646 with the imprint of William Humble. The western hemisphere map showing America depicts California as an island, though interestingly the map of the world shows California connected as a peninsula.

The atlas is often found issued as two volumes in one, along with the British Isles county atlas England Wales Scotland and Ireland Described… That is not the case here, though given the new spine we cannot rule out the possibility that this example was once bound with the other work.

This seems to be the earliest pocket edition of Speed's book of letterpress and maps - Hazlitt, Collections and notes, v.1, p. 397.

According to Philip Burden, the cartography of the map of America was drawn from the folio map engraved by Abraham Goos in 1626. Interestingly, no recognition of the French in Canada is noted. And the only European settlement named in North America is "Plymuth."

Maps

The atlas includes the following maps:

1. A New and Accurat Map of the World, drawn according to ye truest descriptions latest discoveries (lower neat line trimmed away)
2. Asia
3. Africa
4. Europa
5. America
6. Greece
7. The Romane Empire
8. Germania
9. Bohemia
10. Gallia
11. A New Mape of Ye XVII Provinces of Low Germanie
12. Hispania
13. Italia
14. Hungaria
15. Dania
16. Polonia
17. Persia
18. The Turkish Empire
19. China
20. Tartaria