JOHN SPEED

You may come across a heavy folio sized book named History of Great Britaine by John Speed. This was published in the same year as the King James Bible, 1611. Whilst being a remarkable work it was the accompanying book The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine published in the same year that has made the name of John Speed so famous.

The plates for the maps were engraved engraved in Amsterdam and then shipped to England for printing in London. They were of such a distinct design to make them so easily recognisable then and now, over 400 years later as being the work of John Speed although he used the work of other cartographers of the time.

The History and the Theatre were a commercial success. I am sure it was John Speed who wished to extend his mapmaking success although I can imagine he was getting every encouragement from his publishers John Sudbury and George Humble who must have prospered greatly from the public demand. Further editions followed but it was some 15 years later that John Speed’s final atlas was published. It was the first world atlas produced by an Englishman. A truly wonderful work which portrays Speed’s enthusiasm for history and mapmaking. A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World. As well as a double hemisphere map of the world the atlas features maps of the continents and individual countries. There were a tot al of 22 maps in the atlas. Again he would have used the work of contemporary mapmakers, particularly the Dutch such as Blaeu and Visscher. And again he used Dutch to engrave the plates in Amsterdam before shipping them to to London for printing by his publisher George Humble. John Sudbury had retired by this time.

Thankfully John Speed lived to see his world atlas published in 1627 as it was only two years later that in July 1629, aged 77 that he died.

The Theatre and the Prospect continued to be published for many years after his death, the plates passing through the hands of a number of publishers. By the 1670’s the plates were owned by Thomas Bassettand Richard Chiswell. I can imagine them wondering if there would still be a demand for yet another edition combining the Theatre and the Prospect. To increase the chances of it being a success they commissioned a number of additional maps. Some of them bear the name of the engraver Francis Lamb who flourished in London from 1670 to 1700. Other than the map of Russia one would not recognise their design being based on the earlier John Speed maps. The decorative title cartouches bear the imprint Sold by Thomas Basset in Fleet Street and Richard Chiswell in St. Pauls Churchyard. Judging the 1676 edition now it appears to have been a successful publication but it did not stop Thomas Basset being declared bankrupt in 1696.

The additional maps are

Bermuda
Virginia and Maryland
New England and New York
Jamaica and Barbados
Carolina
East Indies
Russia
Canaan

Because of the number of editions of John Speed’s maps over a period of some 150 years they cannot be classed as being rare. Although many will have been lost by various means during the intervening years. Maps from the 1616 edition of the Theatre with Latin text are rarer as well as the eight additional maps in the 1676 edition. The name of John Speed started to sell maps back in 1611 and here we are over 400 years later and his name is still rather magical.