English cartographer, historian and antiquary. Born Farndon in Cheshire and a member of the guild of Merchant Tailors. His subsequent cartographic career evolved from his interests as both historian and antiquary.
Speed is of considerable importance in the history of English cartography in being the author of two major folio Atlases. The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, an Atlas of the British Isles and its regions, first published in London in 1611.
This Atlas is best known for the fine county maps, modelled on the earlier Elizabethan surveys of Christopher Saxton and John Norden, which include armorials, local vignettes, and inset town plans (many of which Speed claimed to have surveyed at first hand himself).
His second Atlas, the first World Atlas by an Englishman, entitled A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World, first appeared in London in 1627. It took as its model the Dutch carte-a-figure genre (maps with top and side borders panels of town views and native inhabitants) to portray the countries of the then-known World.
Although Speed died at the age of 77 in 1629, his Atlases continued to be published for a very long period after his death. The World Atlas appeared in numerous editions through to 1676, this final edition being expanded with a number of important new maps (including three of colonial North America) engraved by Francis Lamb.
The British Isles Atlas continued in print even longer, appearing in editions through to the final Dicey edition of c.1770.
Dictionary of map makers
An illustrated list of makers of maps, charts and globes from the earliest time of cartography to present.
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