1676 - "HUNTINGTON Both Shire and Shire Towne with the Ancient Citie Ely Described" Fine antique map by John Speed & published by Bassett & Chiswell in St Puls Churchyard. A highly decorative and finely engraved 17th Century Map of HUNTINGDONSHIRE - with heraldic shields and inset plans of HUNTINGTON & ELY, published in John Speed's THEATRE OF THE EMPIRE OF GREAT BRITAIN (St Pauls Churchyard, Thomas Bassett & Richard Chiswell).

The reverse of the map is a complete set of text in English describing the history and topography of the county.

Measures 400 x 530 mm with later hand colouring with central fold as issued.

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.