SPEED, John (1552-1629). A Prospect of the most famous Parts of the World….together with The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine ...

5 parts in one volume, lacking engraved title and frontispiece, with 28 double-page engraved maps, the whole mounted on guards, a few plates with paper repairs to the recto mostly to margins some with slight loss to margin, also some browning to margins and contemporary annotations and underscoring to text, edges of a number of pages rough, some uncut, some cut close to engraving, Map of the World slightly browned and chipped at page edges….the Theatre engraved title-paage trimmed at edges and laid-down, (possibly from another copy, engraved plate of the arms of the kingdoms, printed title- in red and black, with 68 double-page engraved maps of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, and 5 letterpress tables, map of The Invasions of England and Irelandlaid-down over copy of the same, paper repairs mostly in margins similar to the ‘Prospect’, most margin edges rough ‘uncut’, later early 19^th century calf, rebacked, leather lettering label, folio, London: for Thomas Bassett and Richard Chiswell, 1676.

The best edition of the most influential atlas by England’s greatest cartographer. This atlas of both A Prospect of the most famous Parts of the World….together with The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine ... was published posthumously in 1676 with 8 new maps (on 7 map sheets) not previously available: New England (Burden 455), Virginia and Maryland (Burden 456), Carolina (Burden 457), Jamaica and Barbados, East India, Russia and Canaan. The Prospect includes the World map showing California as an Island, as well as the Continents.