Huntingdonshire Maps

34x28 cm

"SAXTON KIP"

HUNTINGDON
Comitatus qui pars fuir ICENORUM
Christophorus Saxton descriptsit 
Wilhelmus Kip Sculpsit

Copper engraving by William Kip first published in the 6th edition of William Camden's Britannia in 1607 by George Bishop and John Norton. This was the first edition of the work to include county maps and the first publication to include separate plates for each of the English and Welsh counties

The engraving work was shared between William Kip and William Hole and the maps were based on the Elizabethan surveys of Christopher Saxton and John Norden. The plates were re-issued in the 7th and 8th editions of Britannia (English translations from the Latin by Philemon Holland), in 1610 (two issues) and in 1637. With a few exceptions, maps were unchanged in all editions but we are able to identify individual maps; those from the 1607 edition were printed with Latin typeset text on the reverse. The first 1610 edition was blank verso and did not include a plate number. A plate number was added to most maps in the second issue of 1610 which remained on the final 1637 edition. Later impressions from the 1637 edition may show signs of wear and damage to the plates.

This map of Huntingdonshire is one of the few maps that did not include a plate number in later editions but the inclusion of cardinal points at the margins identifies it as the 1637 edition of Camden’s Britannia.

Two short printers creases top right corner affecting the 'N' in HUNTINGDON. The lower edge is trimmed close with slight loss to border line at the right edge. The bottom edge has been re-margined in matching rag paper with manuscript re-instatement of border below title. It remains a good looking example in fine later hand colour. Large watermark of a coat of arms surmounted with a crown and the golden fleece below.