John Speed | A group of 69 loose maps from his Theatre and Prospect, 1676

The Property of the Downside Abbey General Trust

[Speed, John]

[The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain… The Prospect of the most famous parts of the world. London: T. Bassett and R. Chiswell, 1676]

70 loose double-page engravings (440 x 545mm.), comprising engraved title and dedication, and 69 mapsheets, 12 coloured by hand, map of Channel Islands duplicated, each within a protective mylar sleeve

A good group of maps from Speed’s Theatre and Prospect.

The 69 maps comprise:

63 of 67 maps of Great Britain from the Theatre (lacking The Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Isle of Wight, Kingdom of Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland), plus a duplicate of the Islands.

Together with 5 maps from the Prospect, comprising the world map, America, Carolina, New England and New York, and Virginia and Maryland

PROVENANCE:

Downside Abbey, ink stamp in margin of each map (sometimes just touching border)