JOHN SPEED

The story of how stock of the London map trade was acquired or passed from one to another is a fascinating one. The relationships between surveyors, mapmakers, engravers, publishers and mapsellers is often complex. I hope the following helps to illustrate the history of John Speed's map plates and a few other relationships.

You may come across a few John Speed maps with colouring described as early. The publishers, however, did not advertise or sell the atlases coloured unlike some of the 17th century Dutch map publishers. No doubt you would have had to employ a colourist before the maps were bound into the atlas. The majority of John Speed maps arrived in the 20th century in an uncoloured state. Modern colouring is quite acceptable and many present day collectors like their John Speed maps to be coloured. There are those, however, who would prefer to have a specimen as it was when published. It is really a matter of personal taste. The quality of the modern hand colouring is in my opinion extremely important and poor unattractive modern colouring can greatly reduce the value. I have seen some very very poor modern hand colouring and it makes me despair. So many John Speed maps have been hand coloured in the last 90 years. Perhaps there will be a move by collectors to favour uncoloured specimens one day as they are condsidered to be rarer. Who knows.

The impressive engraved frontispiece makes a statement of great power and is a fitting start to The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine. It is interesting to note the slight changes in the new engraving by Robert White for the 1676 edition published by Thomas Basset and Richard Chiswell. The basic layout of the figures of a Roman, a Saxon, a Dane and a Norman remain. The title label is now arched instead of square and there are changes to the engravings on the plinth showing London and a sailing ship..

Thirty-three of Speed's maps bear the signature of the engraver of the plates, Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612). The engraving took place in his studio in Amsterdam. Other maps may have been engraved by Abraham Goss but none bear his name. Speed must have spent much time gathering together material to produce the maps including drawings of buildings, antiquities, portraits and the unique town plans that were so cleverly woven into the design of each map by the engraver to produce a beautifully balanced piece of artwork.

It appears the the engraved plates were sent to London for printing where the text for the atlas was also printed. Proof impressions of the plates with no text on verso do exist. You may be lucky to find one of these one day. I have only two in my own collection, Caernarvonshire and Flintshire. There are a few sets in existence including the British Museum, Royal Geographical Society and Cambridge University Library.

There are 66 maps in the Cambridge University Library set. It is known as the Gardner set after the former owner Dr. Eric Gardner (1877 - 1951) These maps are viewable online in the Cambridge Digital Library

1. It was bought new by Richard Williams of Llangefni
   
2. On his death he bequeathed it to his daughter Margaret who married an Edwards
   
3. She left it to her daughter Mary Edwards who married John Williams of Anglesey
   
4. It was again inherited by a daughter namely Elizabeth Williams who married William Wynne of Maes-y-neuadd. He was High Sherrif of Merionethshire in 1758 and in 1764 he assumed the surname of Nannay when he inherited the estate of his mother Lowry Nannay of Maes-y-Pandy. The book was for many years in the library at Maes-y-neuadd and was inherited by their eldest daughter Lowry Nannay Wynn
   
5. This Lowry Nannay Wynn married Captain Thomas Vaughan of Plas Thomas, Denbigh and Burlton Hall in Shropshire in 1795 and the volume came to rest at Burlton.
   
6. It was inherited by their only son Robert Chamber Vaughan (born 1786 - died 1876) who had it rebound about the year 1840.
   
7. Robert Chambre Vaughan gave the book to his son Reverend Arthur Chicheley Chambre Vaughan (1834 - 1909) who was Rector of Ingram in Northumberland.
8. On the death of Robert Chambre Vaughan in 1910 the volume was inherited by his surviving daughter Mary Dent Vaughan who married Bernard Keeves.
9. Mary Keeves died on 8th March 1948 and the book came into the possession of their only child Arthur Bernard Chambre K. Keeves, a Captain in the Bengal Indian Amy Service Corps who is the present owner.
   
   
10. The volume was purchased at a London auction by Richard Nicholson of Chester in the 1970’s.

There are modern reproductions of John Speed maps that the collector should be aware of. It is unlikely that once you have handled an original map by John Speed you will be caught out by these reproductions but do take care when purchasing framed maps as it is more difficult to see the features.

I get two or three telephone calls a month about John Speed maps from people who have found them in their loft or been left them. Very often they are from a series of reproduction maps that have been sold widely for many years. They are very easy to spot and usually I can answer a telephone callers concerns by a few questions, such as. What is the paper like that the maps are printed on? If the answer mentions parchment then the answer is simple. It is a modern reproduction of little or no value. The map has no text on the back and no centre fold and the overall colour of the paper is brown. These maps have been sold in their thousands. I remember seeing them back in the 1970's in stationers shops and perhaps Smiths, folded into paper wallets with a transparent panel on the front showing part of the map. The fold lines are usually still evident.

I do see these maps appearing in auction sales. One was catalogued John Speed, British, 1552-1629, Middle-sex described with the most famous Cities of London and Westminster; vignette to lower right reads 'Described by John Norden, Augmented by J Speed, Solde in Popes alley against the Exchange by George Humble', sheet size 35.5cm x 48cm, frame 45.5cm x 58cm

In heavily worn condition. Heavily stained dark brown throughout. Previously folded in four with prominent horizontal and vertical creases visible. Ruckling and undulation to the sheet. Has not been inspected out of the frame.

The auctioneer's estimate was £80- £120. Opening price - £30. To a map collector their value in my opinion is nil. I can only caution you with the words caveat emptor

Added 28th April 2025
It has been brought to my notice that I should mention another particular series of reproducton John Speed maps. This came about when a gentleman wrote to me recently about his John Speed map of Lincolnshire that he wished to sell. He said that he was not an expert on maps but had purchased this map some 35 years ago and had been assured by the dealer that is was an original John Speed map. Unfornunately I found that it was not an original.

In 1953 Pheonix House Ltd published a set of four volumes edited by John Arlot, the journalist, author and cricket commentator, containing a series of actual size colour printed reproduction John Speed maps with the text on verso from the first edition of 1610-11. These maps have a centre fold like original John Speed maps. The colours are somewhat flat but under glass these maps can deceive the uninitiated. When you have seen a number of specimens of this series of reproductions you will become, I hope, accustomed to the range of colours used. In 1974 the plates seem to have been used again by N. T. Leslie (RareBooks) 15 & 17 Hepworth's Arcade Silver Street, Hull to publish a single volume of the maps. These have no centre fold and no text on verso. These maps were not meant to deceive when they were published but in the intervening years they may have been used to deceive, knowingly or unknowingly. So again it is buyers beware.

I am illustrating four county maps from this series of reproduction maps below which I hope may be of some help. The rest is up to you.