Copperplate

(Maps) Merionethshire : 2 items
E. Bowen J. Owen    Britannia Depicta 1720-64
£35
11.5 x 18cm


Britannia Depicta was one of 3 pocket-sized reductions of Ogilby's road book that appeared within an 18 month timeframe between 1719 and 1720. It was more innovative than the others in including much additional topographical and historical information (researched by John Owen) on the maps. The work was a commercial success and ran to many later editions.
Ref: MER 003
 
P. van den Keere    England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland Described from a Farr Larger Volume Done by John Speed 1666 (c1605)
£70
12 x 8.5cm


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.
Ref: MTG 1669