WILLIAM HOLE and WILLIAM KIP

"Britannia" is a multi-volume work on the topography and history of Great Britain, written by William Camden and published in the late 16th and early 17th century. The first edition was published in 1586, with later editions and translations published in the following decades. It was one of the first works of its kind, and was considered a valuable reference work for many years. Camden travelled extensively through England, Wales and Scotland, gathering information and making notes, which he used to write Britannia. It is considered a major primary source of information on the history and geography of Great Britain during the Elizabethan era.

There are just three editions of Camden's Britannia illustrated by a series of county maps engraved by William Hole and William Kip. The three editions are 1607, 1610 and 1637. The name of William Hole or William Kip appears on each map and with a few exceptions the name of Christopher Saxton whose survey in the 1570's was used to produce these maps. Christopher Saxton did not produce a single map of every county but combines two or more counties together on one sheet in some cases for is earlier atlas. These maps from Camden's Britannia are therefore the first good sized map of some counties to be published. The only other county maps that appear around this time are the miniature maps by Pieter van den Keere.