Beschreibung:

Speed (John). The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine. Presenting an Exact Geography of the Kingdomes of England. Scotland and Ireland and the Isles adjoyning..., Thomas Bassett & Richard Chiswell, 1676 bound with The Prospect of the most Famous parts of the World, viz. Asia, Africa, Europe, America with these Empires and Kingdoms therein contained..., Thomas Bassett & Richard Chiswell, 1676, engraved armorial frontispiece and additional decorative title (detached), letterpress general title printed in red & black, part titles to books two, three and four printed in black (Wales, Scotland and Ireland) and letterpress title to 'Prospect' also printed in black, preliminary text leaves including dedication present, 'A New and Accurat Map of the World...,' erroneously bound in after the contents page of 'The Theatre', ninety-six (complete) uncoloured engraved maps (68 in the Theatre and 28 in the Prospect), several maps trimmed with slight loss to the strapwork margin, very occasional marginal closed tears and staining, lacking the maps of Berkshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire, but replaced with examples from the first edition of 1611, map of Derbyshre stained and toned, Spain torn with loss to the upper right corner, Denmark torn with small area of loss to the right hand margin, each map with descriptive text to the verso, index bound at rear, additional armorial frontispiece and decorative title trimmed to neatline and attached to recto and verso of blank leaf at front of the volume, additional title page loosely inserted, 18th-century bookplate of James Norman and old auction catalogue entry to the front pastedown, front free endpaper with ink stamp of I. Pickersgill, hinges and joints weak and cracked, rear board near-detached, 18th-century sheep, rubbed and worn, folio (Quantity: 1) Chubb, XXVII. John Speed's 'Theatre' is regarded as a landmark in the history of British topography. It was the first English attempt to produce a grand scale atlas, including the first maps of the provinces of Ireland. The 'Theatre' evolved into a world atlas with the addition of the 'Prospect' in 1627. The 1676 edition of the Prospect includes seven new maps which were not present in the 1627 edition: Virginia and Maryland, New England, Carolina, Jamaica and Barbados, East India, Russia and Canaan.