Catalog Archive
Auction 127, Lot 475

"[Lot of 4 - County Maps]", Blome, Richard

Subject: England & Wales

Period: 1673 (published)

Publication: Britannia

Color: Hand Color

Size:
9.5 x 7.5 inches
24.1 x 19.1 cm
Download High Resolution Image
(or just click on image to launch the Zoom viewer)

A nice group of county maps from this infamous edition of Britannia. The maps include dedication cartouches with coats of arms and decorative cartouches and other embellishments. (sizes vary slightly)

1) A Map of ye County of Monmouth with its Hundreds
2) A Mapp of ye County of Dorset
3) A Mapp of the County of Somerset with its Hundreds
4) A Mapp of ye County of Hereford with. Its Hundreds

Richard Blome is one of the most interesting figures in cartographic history. He is most renowned for what his contemporaries considered the plagiarism of the maps in the Britannia from Camden and Speed. In actuality Blome did not claim that the maps were original works. In the preface he wrote, "I do not own myself the Author, but the Undertaker of this work". He was one of the most active publishers of illustrated books in post-Restoration London and his career provides in insight into the nature and activities of the London map and print trade of the period. There is an excellent biography on MapForum.com MapForum.com.

References:

Condition: C+

Original color with some minor foxing and centerfold separations. The maps of Somerset and Dorset have some manuscript brown ink notations. The map of Somerset has a paper repair on verso affecting the table of hundreds.

Estimate: $300 - $400

Unsold

Closed on 2/25/2009

Archived