1626/ 1676 John Speed 'carte à figures' Map of Africa: Superb Old Color

Africa-speed-1676-2
$3,500.00
Africae described , the manners of their Habits, and buildings newly done into English by I. S. Are to be sold by Tho Basset in Fleet Street, and Ric Chiswell in St. Pauls Churchyard. - Main View
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1626/ 1676 John Speed 'carte à figures' Map of Africa: Superb Old Color

Africa-speed-1676-2

The Most Beautiful 17th Century English Map of Africa, in a beautiful old color example.
$3,500.00

Title


Africae described , the manners of their Habits, and buildings newly done into English by I. S. Are to be sold by Tho Basset in Fleet Street, and Ric Chiswell in St. Pauls Churchyard.
  1676 (undated)     15.25 x 20 in (38.735 x 50.8 cm)     1 : 26000000

Description


This is John Speed's 1626 map of Africa, the first English map of the continent. This beautiful map is one of the most desirable early maps of Africa, combining superb engraving, attractive Dutch styling, and entertaining and abundant English text. Moreover, the present example sports old color of unusually high quality.
A CloserLook
Speed was an accomplished historian and compiler, drawing his maps from state-of-the-art sources. In this case, the cartography for this map is drawn from the maps of Jodocus Hondius (whose student Goos actually engraved the map). Hondius' source was ultimately Willem Blaeu's 1608 wall map of Africa. As is the case with all of these maps, the map demonstrates 17th century European geography's detailed knowledge of Africa's coasts wedded to a deep mystification of the interior. The course of the Nile, for example, is shown in substantially the same configuration as was supposed in the second century by Claudius Ptolemy. Speed adds descriptive text - for example, noting areas in western and central Africa where gold is said to be found, and indicating areas said to be occupied by Amazons.
Presenting the Idea of Africa
Visually, the map shares with Blaeu the decorative elements associated with the carte á figures as a form: key city views along the top border, along with figures to the left and right depicting the denizens of the lands. The cities are North African, with the exception of Canaria and Mozambique, and all reflect the coastal limitations of European penetration into Africa. In addition to the borders, the body of the map is richly decorated with sailing ships, sea monsters, flying fish, elephants, ostriches, lions, and a zebra.
The Engraver
Speed's adoption of the Dutch carte á figures map style (and indeed, the entirety of the Dutch state-of-the-art for the mapping of Africa) becomes unsurprising when one considers the degree to which Speed was dependent on Dutch engravers. Virtually all of the maps produced for Speed during his lifetime were executed by Jodocus Hondius and (as is the case here) his protégé and student Abraham Goos: it would appear that, until well into the 17th century, the art of engraving in the British Isles was unequal to the challenge posed by the production of maps. Not until this 1676 Bassett and Chiswell edition of Speed's work would maps be included that were actually executed by an Englishman, Francis Lamb.
Color on Speed Maps
Whereas the Dutch and Flemish mapmakers systematically colored a significant portion of their atlases, Speed's various publishers very seldom colored these maps at the time of their publication. While Speed maps with attractive color can be easily found, these were by and large colored later and even recently. The coloring on the present example, however, displays evidence of oxidation consistent with age; since the palette conforms to 17th century fashion, we do not think it likely that this was colored very long after the map's 1676 printing. (Original color of the late seventeenth and into the eighteenth century did not resemble this.)
Publication History and Census
Although Speed died in 1629, his atlas was kept active long afterwards as its plates passed from George Humble to William Garrett to Roger Rea and ultimately to Basset and Chiswell, whose final edition of 1676 is the most easily found. This 1676 edition of the separate map is only listed four times in OCLC: at Stanford, the Bibliothèque National, the University of Witwatersrand, and the University of Kwazulu, Natal. Basset and Chiswell's Theatre of the Empire of Great-Britain is well represented in institutional collections.

CartographerS


John Speed (1542 - 1629) was an important English historian and cartographer active in the early 17th century. Speed was born in Fardon, Cheshire and apprenticed under his father as a tailor. Though his heart was never in tailoring, Speed dedicated himself to this profession until he was about 50 years old. During all the time, Speed dedicated his spare time to research as amateur historian and mapmaker - even preparing several maps for Queen Elizabeth. In London, Speed's interest in history lead him to join the Society of Antiquaries. Eventually he befriended the wealthy Sir Fulke Greville, who sponsored his researches and eventually freed him from the haberdashery profession. Working with William Camden, Speed eventually published his 1611 Historie of Great Britaine. Though this history itself was amateurish and of minimal importance, Speed's inclusion of numerous maps of British Cities and town was seminal. In many cases these plans were the first maps ever issued of their respective subjects. Later, turning his attention more fully to Geography, Speed published the magnificent atlas Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine and, just prior to his death, the 1627 A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World. These were the first British world atlases and have a landmark position in the history of cartography. These atlases continued to be published well after Speed's death. More by this mapmaker...


Abraham Goos (1590–1643) was a Dutch engraver of maps, sea charts, and globes. His work is most commonly connects with the firms of Joannes Jansson, Jocodus Hondius, and John Speed. Goos was based in Antwerp and later Amsterdam. Abraham Goos was succeeded by his son Pieter Goos, who was in tern succeeded by his son H. Goos. Learn More...

Source


Speed, John, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, (London: Basset and Chiswell) 1676.    

Condition


Very good. Two creases with no loss to printed image, reinforced bottom centerfold, else excellent with beautiful old color and full margins.

References


Betz. R. L., A Cartobibliography of Printed Maps of the African Continent to 1700, #62.3. Norwich, O., Norwich's Maps of Africa: An illustrated and Annotated Carto-bibliography, #30. Rumsey 12058.173. OCLC 933232450.