The cartography of
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John Speed |
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 early three centuries
after his death John Speed remains the most celebrated and collected
of all English map makers. Speed was born in 1552 at Farndon,
Cheshire into relatively humble circumstances. Like his father
before him he was a tailor by trade, but around 1582 he moved
to London. During his spare time Speed pursued his interests
of history and cartography and in 1595 his first map of Canaan
was published in the "Biblical Times". This raised
his profile and he soon came to the attention of poet and dramatist
Sir Fulke Greville a prominent figure in the court of Queen Elizabeth.
Greville as Treasurer of the Royal Navy gave Speed an appointment
in the Customs Service giving him a steady income and time to
pursue cartography.
 hrough Greville,
Speed joined the Society of Antiquaries and was introduced to
many of the great scholars of the day including, William Camden,
Robert Cotton and William Smith. These great men would eventually
contribute to Speed's " History of Great Britain" and
its accompanying atlas "The Theatre of the Empire of Great
Britaine". The maps were derived mainly from the earlier
prototypes of Christopher Saxton and Robert Norden but with notable
improvements including parish "Hundreds" and town plans.
For the publication of this prestigious atlas Speed turned to
the most successful London print-sellers of the day, John Sudbury
and George Humble. William Camden introduced the leading Flemish
engraver, Jodocus Hondius Sr. to John Speed in 1607 because first
choice engraver William Rogers had died a few years earlier.
Work commenced with the printed proofs being sent back and forth
between London and Amsterdam for correction and was finally sent
to London in 1611 for publication. The work was an immediate
success and the maps themselves being printed for the next 150
years.
 fter John Sudbury retired
from the firm in 1618, but in 1627 George Humble published a
complement to the "Theatre" called "The Prospect
of the World". It was the first world atlas by an Englishman,
though how much Speed was involved is unknown as but this time
he was nearly blind. The maps themselves were English versions
of current stock produced by the major Amsterdam publishing houses.
he atlases continued
to be published with George Humble's son William inheriting the
business on his death in 1640, just before the strart of the
English Civil Wars. This was a period of great turmoil for Great
Britain, though William Humble astutely published maps for the
parliamentary armies and was given a special licence to import
Dutch maps and globes for the state. Humble then used his privilege
to smuggle vast sums of money to the exiled king and he was quickly
awarded a Baronetcy after Restoration. A further edition appeared
after farther and son partnership Roger Rea the elder & Roger
Rea the younger acquired Speed's plates around 1660. Editions
of their maps are very rare as much of their printed stock was
destroyed in the Great Fire, though the plates survived when
they came into the possession of Bassett and Chiswell in the
1670's.
 ooksellers, Thomas
Bassett and Richard Chiswell, updated the atlases, with the "Theatre"
needing new text and minor corrections, as it was still the best
county atlas available. However, the "Prospect" was
by this time out-dated and new maps were added for South East
Asia, the Holy Land, Jamaica and Barbados, New England, Virginia
and the Carolinas.
he 1676 Bassett and
Chiswell editions of the "Theatre" and the "Prospect"
were the last formal ones produced. Further editions appeared
sporadically as ownership of the publishing rights changed to
Christopher Browne, c1690, and John & Henry Overton, c1710,
who added some roads based on Ogilby's surveys. the last rather
worn looking maps were produced by Cluer Dicey in 1770. The
maps of the "Theatre" are a tribute to Speed's skill
at bringing together cartography and antiquarian material and
presenting it in a form that is just as popular today as it was
with his contemporaries.
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