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Description

A nice full-hand-color example of John Speed's decorative carte-a-figure map of Spain and Portugal, from the first folio-sized English atlas.

The side borders contain two sets of five decorative costumes of various Spanish and Portuguese peoples.

The top border shows views of nine Iberian cities: Madrid, Sevilla, Lisbona, Valladolid, Granada, Toledo, Barcelona, and Burgos.

Condition Description
Minor toning. Trimmed close to the neatline on the bottom edge. A few mended edge tears. Upper right corner with small amount of paper reinstatement. Good to VG.
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.