1626 "A NEW MAPPE OF THE ROMANE EMPIRE NEWLY DESCRIBED BY John Speed and are to bee sould in pops head alley by G.Humble 1626"

A superb example of Speed's carte-a-figure map of the Roman Empire at its height, from his 'Prospect Of The Most Famous Parts Of The World.' The map centres on the Mediterranean Sea, dividing Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia into their Roman era provinces, as well as depicting adjoining kingdoms and regions. The borders of the Roman provinces are outlined in hand colour and feature anglicised versions of their original Latin names. Ancient cities and settlements are picked out in red, and sea coasts and mountain ranges are also highlighted in hand colour. The map is further embellished with a pair of lions in Nubia, an ostrich and leopard below a camel train in ancient Tingitania (Morocco), and a pair of sea monsters, a ship, and a naval battle in the Atlantic. In the top right corner, a strapwork cartouche encloses the title, while a larger box cartouche at the bottom of the plate contains a lengthy description of the history of the growth of the Roman empire.

Like other carte-a-figures maps, this example features three decorative borders. To the left and right, five pairs of male and female figures show the manner of dress of the various peoples that inhabit the former Roman empire. In seventeenth century habit are Spaniards, Italians, Tyrians, Egyptians, and Moroccans. In the top border are a set of six oval-bordered views of principal cities: Rome, Genoa, Jerusalem, Venice, Constantinople, and Alexandria, as well as a pair of portrait roundels in the form of Roman coins depicting the goddess Roma and the eponymous founder of the Empire, Romulus.

This example is by far the rarest of all the various issues. Measures 51cm x 40cm with fine hand colour. Condition is excellent with English text on verso. 

John Speed (1552-1629) was born in Cheshire and from his youth pursued his father's profession of tailoring. He later moved to London to continue this trade, though Speed's real passions lay elsewhere, namely in the fields of antiquity and cartography. He joined the Society of Antiquaries where his enthusiasm soon attracted the attention of notables such as William Camden and Sir Fulke Greville. In 1596, Greville provided Speed with a full-time allowance to write a 'Historie of Great Britaine'. It was during this project that Speed decided to add a cartographic supplement to the work and it was from this that his famous atlas 'The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine' was born.

When published in 1611/12, his atlas was an immediate success, outdoing the one established by Christopher Saxon in 1579. There were a number of reasons for this; Speed's atlas showed each county separately with its hundreds, was resplendent with heraldic shields but most significantly had one or two town plans. Displayed from a bird's eye view perspective, many of the towns were surveyed by Speed himself using a distinct "scale of paces' and are the earliest known plans of these places. The aesthetic beauty of the maps were also down to the Dutch engraver, Jodocus Hondius, whose fine calligraphy and decorative strapwork are a feature throughout.