The Finest Early, English Map of Russia

SPEED, John. [London, 1676]

Russia/ Lithuania/ Ukraine. SPEED, J. [London: 1676] A Map of Russia.  15 ⁵/₈ x 20 ¹/₈ inches.  Fine hand color; a few closed splits in lower margin two just entering surface, else excellent condition with a strong impression.       

                                                                                                      
One of the first English maps of Russia and certainly the most attractive. The map is scarce, as it appeared only in the 1676 edition of Speed’s world atlas.  At upper left is a large plan of Moscow with a key to important locations. The five vignettes at right depict the Emperor's Court, the vital port of Archangel, the Russian fort at Narva (in modern Estonia and a crucial stronghold on Russia’s western border), “A Hott (i.e. bath) House,” and a mill. Above the cartouche are figures dressed in “The Habit of Russians,” one of whom carries the Russian coat of arms.  The only earlier English map of Russia is that of Richard Blome, a reduced edition of Nicolas Sanson’s map of the region.

John Speed was the preeminent English map publisher of the seventeenth century; his first works were county maps published in 1611.  His first world atlas was A Prospect of the World, first published in 1627.  The plates for the atlas passed through many hands in the 17th century, with the atlas reaching its final form in 1676 when it was published by Thomas Bassett and Richard Chiswell, with a number of important maps added for the first time, this map being one of these. Speed's maps profited from the surveying expertise he acquired from Saxton and Norden, who brought triangulation to British surveying early in the century. 

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