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SPEED, John : Asia with the Islands Adioyning Described, the Atire of the People, & Townes of Importance, All of them Newly Augmented by I.S. Ano. Dom. 1626

George Humble, London, 1627-[31]

390 x 510 mm., in fine later colour, with one minor margin tear short of the image, repaired.

A very attractive carte-a-figures of Asia engraved by Abraham Goos by John Speed (1552-1629). Speed is the most famous of all the English map-makers. His two most famous publications are "The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain", first published in 1611[12] and the "Prospect of the most famous parts of the world", first published in 1627. Speed was a tailor by profession with a great interest for history and maps. He wanted to produce an English atlas of the same high standards and quality as those published on the continent. First he prepared a series of county maps of England and Wales and personally travelled all over the British Isles to acquire the information for all the town plans to be included as separate insets. The "Prospect of the most famous parts of the world", first published in 1627, was often bound with the "Theatre" and added an additional 20 engraved maps of the various parts of the world. The map is attractive because of the border illustrations and insets with figures in national costume, city views, town plans and other interesting features. According to a pencilled note on the verso this example is from the second edition of 1631. NMM 438; Phillips Atlases 488; Shirley BL T.Spe 1f; Skelton 18; Wing S4886; Yeo, J. 30.

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