Maps created by
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all Speed's maps fetch several hundred to several thousand pounds each today depending on the place and condition, imagine the cost of a complete atlas Speed also produced county maps, different counties fetch different prices, they range from around £200 for a map of Pembrokeshire to £1400 for a map of Cornwall. |
John Speed was one of the most famous cartographers of all time. as a result his work fetches many pounds today, this fine example of a map of the world is worth somewhere in the region of £10K. The sort of thing you can only dream of owning, let alone worry about hanging on your wall if you did!!!
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John Speed is the best known and most popular of all British Cartographers. Although like his father, he started out on his career as a tailor. His passion for history was strong and at the age of 30 he met Sir Fulke Greville (Lord Brooke) who became his patron and financial sponsor. With this security he was able to pursue his interests in publishing historical works and atlases his Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain was the first complete atlas of the British Isles ever produced, containing 67 maps of the counties of England, Wales and Ireland, together with maps of the Isles of Wight and Man and also the Channel Islands the surveys used for his maps had been carried out by the most eminent cartographers of the late 16th century - Christopher Saxton, John Norden and William Smith. Whilst the country maps of Wales and Ireland were based on original work by Gerard Mercator having set out the maps on paper they were transferred in reverse onto copper by one of the best engravers of the time, Dutchman Jodocus Hondius, who had resided in England for about 10 years before returning to Amsterdam to engrave the plates. Speed's maps were a great success, not only the most decorative of the period but also innovative. Using information available from official documents and parliamentary rolls he added boundaries of the hundreds for each county. He also added plans of a city or the shire town, sometimes two per page, in all 72, itself constituted the first collection of town plans of England and Wales. Some plans being drawn by Speed, others from well-established sources such was the importance of Speed's maps that they were copied for many years after by other cartographers, some plagiarised, others acknowledging the fact. In Speed's case he was humble enough to admit by his admissions...; "I have put my sickle into other men's corn" or "I have chiefly sought to give satisfaction to all without offence to any" |
John Speed (1552-1629) earlier
on my site I had a map of the North Pole that was incorrectly attributed to
John speed.
below is Speed's worth around £400-500 however it is worth
only
The popularity of John Speed's maps is as strong today as it was in the heyday of early English cartography and they remain the most sought after and collected of all maps.
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the
front piece
to JOHN SPEED's 1676 atlas "THE THEATRE OF THE EMPIRE OF GREAT BRITAINE..."engraved by R. White worth about £200 for price of complete atlas !!! |
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decorative map of the county published in London by Thomas Bassett and Richard Chiswell.
Strapwork title cartouche surmounted by the royal arms. two inset town plans of Caernavon and Bangor within strap work cartouches. Scale with pair of dividers on the sea area Neptune is riding on the back of a
sea monsters viewing a skirmish between three ships. Two other sea monsters. Arms of Rober
Dormer. 20 x 16 inches. from Theatre Empire of Great Britaine (worth about £500) |
Caernarvonshire, John Speed, 1676. CAERNARVONSHIRE BOTH SHYRE AND SHIRE-TOWN WITH THE ANCIENT CITIE BANGOR DESCRIBED. ANNO DOMINI 1610.
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Speed county maps |
cost
are funny things but an average is
Westmorland : £350 - £400 Isle of Man : £450 - £550 Leicestershire : £550 - 700 and amazingly Cambridgeshire : £1500 - £1700
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Westmorland |
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Leicestershire |
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Isle of Man |
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Cambridgeshire
"Cambridgshire described with the devision of the hundreds, the townes situation, with the Armes of the Colleges of that famous Universiti" London, Bassett
& Chiswell, size 385 x 525. it shows 25 university armorials, four scholars, the Royal Crest and a plan of Cambridge. |
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you fancy a new Atlas ? and If I had plenty of money this was an advert,
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| an interesting
edition of John Speed’s famous atlas. After retouching and revision to the copper
plates the maps have an attractive crispness and clarity
John Oveton offered the maps
both singly in sheets or bound as a set in
“Marble Paper, with red Leather Backs and Corners” Decorative
engraved frontispiece, printed index and 58 double page maps with original outline hand
colouring. |
ENGLAND FULLY DESCRIBED IN A
COMPLEAT SETT OF MAPPS OF YE COUNTY’S OF ENGLAND AND WALES, WITH THEIR ISLANDS,
CONTAINING IN ALL 58 MAPS BY JOHN SPEED. REPRINTED ANNO, 1743. printed & sold by Henry Overton at ye White Horse without Newgate. London. 1999 Price: |
| Germany A NEWE MAPE OF GERMANY Newly Augmented by John Speed Ano Dom: 1626. John Speed's fine map of the whole
country bearing the imprint of
G. Humble. across the top of the map are eight panels each with a town view whilst down the two sides are ten panels each with a costumed figure. English text on verso |
 20 1/2 x 16 inches, 520 x 405 mm. value around £800 to £1000 |
| Russia from JOHN SPEED's Also from Speeds 1627 atlas details as of the |
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the
counties of England and Wales from Speed's atlas Printed at London. Anno,
cum Privilegio, 1611- [1616]. The Latin edition is arguably the rarest of all the editions, being produced for the overseas market. Thomas Chubb states in his book, "The Latin edition of Speed's atlas of Great Britain and Ireland is extremely rare, it was not until 1918 that the British Museum obtained a copy". below are two examples of
county maps from Speeds |
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the North
Pole is by Gerard it is worth around (for
reference
see Burden earlier
on my site this map was incorrectly attributed to John speed.
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