This classic decorative county map of Northamptonshire is from John Speed’s important English atlas. It divides the county into its hundreds and shows towns and cities, parks, hills, rivers, and more. Besides presenting the most up-to-date information in his maps, Speed also included detailed city plans; here there are plans of Northampton (at top left) and Peterborough (at bottom right), complete with coats of arms, distance scales, and keys indicating places of interest. Another inset pictures "the armes of all those honorable Families that have bene created Earles of Northapto, since ye Normans conquest." A vignette of the Battle of Edgcote, a battle fought in July 1469 during the Wars of the Roses, appears with a note describing the fighting. The map also includes a title cartouche, the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, a distance scale cartouche decorated with large compass calipers, and a large compass rose capped with a fleur-de-lis. Engraved by Jodocus Hondius. Published by George Humble. Latin text on verso.

References: Shirley (BL Atlases) T.SPE-1d.

Condition: A

A fine impression on watermarked paper with a few small spots and a tiny hole on the neatline at top.