W. Kip Camden's Britannia 1637 (1607)
The first five editions of Camden's successful history and topography of Britain were without maps, but for the sixth edition of 1607 the engravers William Hole and William Kip were commissioned to provide a set of maps of the counties of England and Wales, plus 3 general maps of the countries comprising the new "United Kingdom". These maps were retained for the subsequent 1610 and 1637 editions. They are based on the earlier work of Saxton, Norden, Smith and Owen. This example is from the 1637 edition.
A slight crease.
This small county atlas of England and Wales was first issued in 1748 by a consortium of 7 publishers who also had a stake in the publication of Daniel Defoe's Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain. It was advertised as a companion volume to Defoe's work, or as a pocket atlas in its own right. Thomas Hutchinson's name appears as the engraver on 2 maps, but the rest are unsigned and may be by a variety of hands. They are sometimes also known as Osborne/Wale maps. There was a second edition in 1756.
P. van den Keere England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland Described from a Farr Larger Volume Done by John Speed 1666 (c1605)
Around 1599 Peter Van Den Keere began engraving a set of miniature British maps (based on Saxton). These were first published in Amsterdam in c1605. By 1619 the plates had passed to the London bookseller George Humble, who revised them (changing Latin county names to English), but also engraved new plates to replace those counties grouped together on one map in the originals. Although covering two Welsh counties, the original plate of Montgomery and Merionethshire was retained, but with the aforementioned amendment to the title. Humble's first issue of the maps was in 1619. For his second edition of 1627 English text was added to the verso of the maps. All the maps are generally referred to as by Van den Keere, but Skelton doubts this attribution for the newly engraved versions. The atlas went through several later editions up to 1676 This example is from the 1666 edition.
J. Speed England Fully Described in a Complete Set of Mapps of ye Countys of England and Wales, with their Islands c1713-43 (1612)
John Speed's maps of the English and Welsh counties are amongst the most decorative of early, British cartographic work, and are eagerly sought after today. They were first published in 1612 in The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, designed as a companion volume to Speed's History of Great Britaine. The maps were based on the earlier surveys of Saxton, Norden and a few others, with engraving contracted to Jodocus Hondius whose signature appears on 33 of the maps. Speed's greatest innovation was the inclusion of inset plans of major towns and cities. Although some were copied from earlier work, for many towns this was first plan ever published. Speed's county atlas was re-issued a number of times for a period of around 160 years, with new publishers making various small changes and updates to the maps over time. This map bears the imprint of Henry Overton - one of the rarer imprints found on Speed maps - and could have been issued either in a complete Speed atlas, or in one of Overton's "composite" atlases, using individual maps from various sources. Overton probably also sold Speed's maps singly.
Langley and Belch were in partnership from 1807 to 1820, and issued their county atlas in 1818. The maps are attractive, with topograhical vignettes (in this case Caernarvon castle), and usually found in original full wash colour as here. Narrow vertical margins.
A. Perrot L'Angleterre, ou Description Historique et Topographique du Royaume de las Grande-Bretagne 1824-35
The text for this French topographical work on Britain was written by George Depping, the maps being drawn by Aristide Perrot and engraved by A. Migneret. It was first published in 1824, with subsequent editions in 1828 and 1835. The maps often cover more than one county as in this example which also includes Merionethshire. The surrounding decorative border shows the typical produce and wares of the counties. Original outline colour.
Montgomeryshire - Powis Castle. The Antiquities of England and Wales was the product of Alexander Hogg who was well known as a partwork publisher. Under the claimed authorship of Henry Boswell it was issued serially from c1787-9, and subsequently made available as a complete work. The format was typically 2 (though sometimes up to 6) prints to a page, with one or two accompanying pages of descriptive text on each pair of subjects. It also included the set of English county maps by Thomas Kitchin first used in the London Magazine from 1747-54. Powis Castle was the ancestral home af a dynasty of Welsh Princes, and was constructed around 1200. in 1266 the last hereditary Prince, Owain ap Gruffydd relinquished his royal title to become Baron de la Pole, retaining his estates. In 1579 his descendant sold both title and castle to Sir Edward Herbert, whose son became 1st Baron Powis. The castle underwent major updating and alterations from 1665-1690, and again from 1784 when the castle and its estates passed by marriage to the wealthy Edward Clive (son of Clive of India). In the early 20th century further updating was undertaken and today's famous gardens were created. The castle passed to the National Trust in 1952, and is open to the public. This print, engraved by Lowry, is supplied with the original, accompanying text.