Speed (John)

The Countye Palatine of Chester, with that most ancient citie described,

£395

London, Roger Rea the Elder and Younger, 1665.
county map of Cheshire with a large inset plan of the city of Chester, upper centre, flanked by title and key panels, each with pairs of putti supporting strapwork armorial medallions suspended below. A column of the ‘Arms of the Earles of Chester’ adorns the left side of the map. An angel turning a large globe and holding an armorial shield stands in each of the lower corners. This is from the rarest mid-17th century edition, published by Roger Rea the elder and younger at ‘the Golden Crosse in Cornhill against the Exchange’. They had purchased the plates of Speed’s atlas, ‘Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine’, in 1659 from William Garrett, who had only recently purchased them from the widow of William Humble. The scarcity of this edition is attributed to much of the printed stock being destroyed in the Fire of London in 1666. The plates were subsequently sold on to Bassett and Chiswell in 1675, who published their more copious edition a year later..