Rare Miniature Speed Atlas of the World.

A wonderful miniature John Speed atlas of the world, first issued by William Humble, son of George Humble, in 1646. This edition published by Roger Rea in 1668. The elder Humble was the original publisher of the folio edition of the Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World, which was issued in 1627. The miniature atlas leveraged the intellectual property that the Humble family owned in the folio atlas and made it accessible to the masses in a smaller, less expensive format.

To engrave the maps in the atlas, Humble hired the experienced Dutch engraver Pieter van den Keere whose name is now closely associated with the "miniature Speeds". The descriptive text accompanying the maps is quite extensive and accessible.

The atlas was sometimes issued as two volumes in one, along with the British Isles county atlas England Wales Scotland and Ireland Described… That is not the case here.

This atlas was published in London in 1668, two years after the catastrophic Great Fire, which destroyed most of the city center. Potentially as a consequence of that, Roger Rea was publishing at the Gilded Cross Winchester Street, near Gresham College - outside of the area damaged by the fire.

Maps

The atlas includes the following maps: