17th Century map of the County of Dorsetshire, England

ohn Speed's 1611 map of Dorsetshire is decorated with coats of arms, swash lettering and ornate strapwork cartouches for the title and scale bar. A plan of Dorchester appears in the top right hand corner. The sea contains various vignettes of sailing ships and sea monsters. John Speed, a tailor's son from Cheshire is, perhaps, the most famous of British cartographers and one of the earliest. Whilst in his 50's, aided by his patron, Sir Fulke Greville, he produced The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain, a book of county maps to accompany a history of Great Britain. In 1611, the first edition of his atlas was printed and became so popular that it was re-printed, as the copper plates were passed from printer to printer, until 1770

1611 Cartographic Charts Dorsetshire Speede

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