John Speed’s Map of Poland, 1626: First Issue with Views of Kraków, Gdańsk & Poznań

Speed, John (1552–1629).
A Newe Mape of Poland
London: George Humble, 1626

The first issue of John Speed’s Map of Poland, one of the most decorative and desirable early maps of the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, here an especially fine example with vivid contemporary hand-colouring in excellent condition.

Published during the height of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Speed’s map gave an English audience one of the most memorable seventeenth-century representations of Poland. It is surrounded by six finely engraved views of Kraków, Gdańsk, Poznań, Krosno, Sandomierz and Wrocław, together with eight figures illustrating Polish, Silesian and Gdańsk dress, the arms of Poland and Silesia, and a small portrait of King Sigismund III Vasa. Institutional catalogues consistently describe it as among the most decorative and soughtafter maps of Poland.

Finely framed behind museum glass with very low reflection, it presents superbly and is particularly well suited to display.