1676 Outstanding Antique Map TARTARY Caspian CHINA John Speed Bassett and Chiswell SPEED, John

1676 A NEWE MAPE OF TARTARY augmented by John Speede and are to be sold by Tho. Bassett in Fleet Street Richard Chiswell in St Pauls ChurchyardA fine and spectacular map of Tartary by John Speed showingthe many geography speculations found at a time when parts of Asia were largely unexplored by Europeans. Extends from Armenia eastward to include part of North America and includes the Arctic Sea and Nova Zembla.Korea is presented as an Island while the Kamchatka Peninsula is entirely absent. The Straits of Anian, believed to be associated with the mythical Northwest Passage is identified. The Great Wall of China is depicted in a grand style, south of which lies the Kingdom of China. Throughout, several kingdoms, important cities, rivers, lakes, islands, mountains, and other topographical features are noted. These includes important cities which were part of the ancient Silk Route.The Caspian Sea, presented along its East-West Axis according to the practice of the time, is identified by various names (Sea of Sala otherwise Bachu, called by the Russians Chualenske More,the Caspian and Hircan Sea). Further north Tazota Island, from the Roman geographer Pliny the Elder, appears in the Arctic Circle.Beijing or Peking appears north of the Great Wall and is identified by the name Cambalu, as used by Marco Polo. Interesting notations are also included throughout, including one north of the Great Wall reading, In this Country is a hil out of which they dig earth called by Pliny terra Asbestus, having fine veines like grasse which being spun and weaved yeeld cloth that wil nut burn in the fire.The map is surrounded on the left and right with illustrations of the costumes and people from various parts of the region. Along the top border, four views are included detailing the cities Astrakan, Samarkand, Cambalu, and a view of the house of Nova Zembla.The reverse of the map is a completeset of text in English describing the history and topography of the county.Measures 420x 530mm with hand colouring.John Speed (1552-1629) was born in Cheshire and from his youth pursued his fathers profession of tailoring. He later moved to London to continue this trade, though Speeds real passions lay elsewhere, namely in the fields of antiquity and cartography. He joined the Society of Antiquaries where his enthusiasm soon attracted the attention of notables such as William Camden and Sir Fulke Greville. In 1596, Greville provided Speed with a full time allowance to write a Historie of Great Britaine. It was during this project that Speed decided to add a cartographic supplement to the work and it was from this that his famous atlas The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine was born.When published in 1611/12, his atlas was an immediate success, outdoing the one established by Christopher Saxon in 1579. There were a number of reasons for this; Speeds atlas showed each county separately with its hundreds, was resplendent with heraldic shields but most significantly had one or two town plans. Displayed from a birds eye view perspective, many of the towns were surveyed by Speed himself using a distinct scale of paces and are the earliest known plans of these places. The aesthetic beauty of the maps were also down to the Dutch engraver, Jodocus Hondius, whose fine calligraphy and decorative strapwork are a feature throughout.CONDITION:Original antique Mapis in outstandingcondition with central fold as issued.