Leinster - John Speed 1632

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• Cartographer - John Speed
• Title - The Countie of Leinster with the Citie Dublin described.
• Date - 1610 (but 1632)
• Size - 510mm x 385mm 
• Condition - Very Good. Good paper, slightly age-toned around margins. Detailed full colour, expertly applied. Small stain below plate line at bottom margin, from smudging and spillage of original application of pigment. Does not materially affect map. Otherwise excellent. Clean and bright. Scarce early Map!

Important Early Map of Leinster by John Speed

This is a wonderful early example of John Speed's map of Leinster, which although bears the date 1610, was actually published in 1632.

Speed's maps of Ireland are amongst the most collectable and recognisable of all early maps of Ireland, and are highly sought after by collectors. 

As with all Speed maps, the decorative embellishments are particularily attractive. From the cartouche, to the large monster in the Irish Sea, the elaborate mileage scale, large compass rose and sailing ship, this is a spectacular map.

Of course, it was the addition of town plans to the county maps for his great atlas the Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine which singled out Speed as a great innovator. His plans of the Irish cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway were groundbreaking  and were often copied by later cartographers. In fact the plan of Dublin shown here has a full chapter devoted to it and it's derivatives in Bonar Law's Dublin, with no less than 30 maps subsequently derived from it over the next 300 years.

These town plans for the Theatre ... were in fact the first collection of townplans of these islands, and the Theatre... itself can also claim pride of place as being the first proper full scale atlas of the British Isles. The maps were engraved in Amsterdam by Jodocus Hondius

Highly Desirable Early Map of Leinster by John Speed.

Reference : Bonar Law - John Speed Maps of Ireland  - 1632

Item ID: 15422-93

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