John SpeedJohn Speed, “The Kingdome of Persia with the Cheef Citties and Habites described”, copper plate engraving on paper, hand-coloured, Chiswell and Basset [London, 1676]

John Speed, The Kingdome of Persia with the Cheef Citties and Habites described, copper plate engraving on paper, hand-coloured, Chiswell and Basset [London, 1676]

single leaf, copperplate engraving, hand-coloured details, excellent dark impression on paper, slightly creased along old folds with minor surface soiling, overall very good condition, 410 by 520 mm.; in early twentieth-century frame, under glass

A very attractive Speed map of Persia, with vignettes of Isfahan, Hormuz, Tabris and Gilan along the upper edge and depictions of Persian social classes to outer edges, including a Persian nobleman, a common citizen, a countryman and a Turk. Each of these figures are set across from their respective female equivalent forming a decorative frame around the cartography. The map itself focuses on Persia, which includes modern-day Iran and its borders with Russia, Iraq, Armenia, parts of the Turkish Empire and India. Also included along the lower edge of the map are early depictions of the regions of the Gulf now modern Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

A map from Speed's Atlas entitled A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World, compiled during his lifetime (1551-1629), but not printed until the Chiswell and Bassett publication in 1676, in which many maps were published for the first time.

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