MAPS TO THE PAST
Fair offers collectors a chance to pick up a piece of cartographic history
OHN SPEED is no doubt turning in his grave. Visitors to one of the region’s top fine art and antiques fairs in his native Cheshire later this month will invariably punch the postcode into their respective satnavs and follow the instructions from the dulcet-toned lady who lives somewhere behind the dashboard.
There won’t be a paper map among any of them. Collectors interested in cartography, on the other hand, surround themselves with the things.
Conversely, and today when most “antiques” are no older than the 1900s, the unconverted cannot believe that maps from the 16th and 17th century are still available and affordable.
Most early maps found these days come from atlases, a word coined by Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594) famous for creating the 1569 world map.
Printed from woodblocks and, later, copper plates, and coloured by hand, they are both decorative and fascinating records of the topography and geography of the past.
Visitors to that Cheshire antiques fair should steer a course to the display mounted by Chesterfield, Derbyshire dealer Jim Dickinson, highlights of which are maps by the father of English cartography, Yorkshire-born Christopher Saxton, (c.1542-1610) and John Speed (1552-1629), a name synonymous with early county maps of Great Britain.
Saxton is believed to have studied surveying at Cambridge University and subsequently enjoyed the patronage of the wealthy Sir Thomas Seckford, of Woodbridge, Suffolk, who was Master of the Queen’s Request and Surveyor of the Court of Wards and Liveries.
With his financial backing, together with the support of Queen Elizabeth I and a patent from the Privy Council, instructing all mayors and justices of the peace to “see him conducted into any tower castle, higher place or hill to view the country and that he may be accompanied with one or two honest men such as do best know the country”, Saxton began the survey in 1572 and completed it just seven years later.
Saxton drew all the maps himself, travelling around the countryside on foot and horseback and measuring distances by pacing or with chains.
Oddly, though, he missed out all roads, while hills and rivers were often strangely out of proportion.
Each of the 34 county maps, printed by the best English and Flemish engravers, was published separately and priced at 4d, while the complete atlas with a map of Anglia and frontispiece depicting Elizabeth I was published in 1579.
A work of international importance, it formed the basis of all county maps for the next 200 years.
Born in Farndon, Cheshire, the son of a tailor, John Speed was apprenticed to his father but instead turned to his interest in history and antiquities and began preparing his “Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain” in 1600.
This first atlas of the British Isles contained 54 maps and relied heavily on the earlier work of Saxton and others, although information relating to the town plans depicted was obtained first hand, as he says in the preface “by my owne travels through every province of England and Wales”.
The atlas proved extremely popular and was reprinted in a second edition in 1614, followed by a further eight by 1676.
The Theatre published in 1627 was combined with “A Prospect of the most Famous Parts of the World” which became the first world atlas produced by an Englishman.
Speed maps have seen considerable price rises in recent years, possibly because they are among the most decorative, often displaying large coats of arms and embellishment with sea monsters and galleons.
■ ART Antiques Cheshire is at Mere Golf Resort and Spa, near Knutsford, WA16 6LJ, which runs from February 22-24. Entry costs £5 but readers will get two tickets for the price of one on production of a copy of this newspaper.