Saxton-Kip Map of Dorset
SKU: 9593Title:
Saxton-Kip Map of Dorset
Date of publication:
1637
Place of publication:
London
Colour:
modern
Mapmaker(s):
William Camden was an Elizabethan historian who wrote a county by county description of England, Britannia. As he continued to revise and expand this work, which set new standards for historical research, an illustrated edition with maps engraved by William Kip and William Hole was published in 1607.
This gang of Williams took the surveys of Christopher Saxton and (where available) John Norden as their models, and for the first time each county was allocated its own map-sheet (Saxton often grouped counties together in twos and threes, and John Speed’s atlas the ‘Theatre’ was not published until a few years later).
Camden wrote in Latin, anticipating an international audience, but Philemon Holland (dubbed ‘the translator general in his age’ by Thomas Fuller) prepared an English translation which was published in 1610. Our example of the map of Dorset was published in the second edition of the English edition, which was the third printing of the maps overall.
Condition & Materials
Copper engraving, approx. 27.8 x 39 cm, engraved by William Kip after Christopher Saxton, modern hand colour, blank verso.
References
Skelton, County Atlases, 23.