CAMDEN S BRITANNIA, Newly Translated into English; With Large Additions and Improvements.
(Oxford: Edmund Gibson, 1695).
SCARCE FIRST EDITION WITH MORDEN S MAPS AND THE FIRST OF GIBSON S ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THIS MASTERPIECE ON BOTH TYPOGRAPHY AND THE ROMAN AND PREHISTORIC REMAINS OF GREAT BRITAIN.
The work is a county by county break study in detail. The fantastic engraved maps by Morden are considered among the best of the period.
In 1577, with the encouragement of Abraham Ortelius, Camden began his great work Britannia, a topographical and historical survey of all of Great Britain. His stated intention was "to restore antiquity to Britaine, and Britaine to its antiquity." The first edition was published in 1586. The work, which was written in Latin, was very popular.
Britannia is a county-by-county description of Great Britain. It is a work of chorography: a study that relates landscape, geography, antiquarianism, and history. Rather than write a history, Camden wanted to describe in detail the Great Britain of the present, and to show how the traces of the past could be discerned in the existing landscape. By this method, he produced the first coherent picture of Roman Britain.
While the work itself is a masterpiece, the show-stealer of this edition is unquestionably the fine engraved maps by Robert Morden. Morden died in 1703, and this is the only edition of his most famous maps that were published in his lifetime. These maps are the first county maps to show roads ( based on Ogilby s road maps ) and show three scales representing great, middle and small miles as different scales were used in different parts of the country. The extremely rare John Bill maps of the 1620 s were the first to carry latitude and longitude which Morden shows here too. Along with the county by county maps of England there are also maps of Scotland, Ireland and the smaller British Islands.
Included also is a Life of Camden , Camden s preface and other material. Item #27531
First edition of Edmund Gibson s translation and the first to include Morden s maps, considered among the of the period. With 50 double-page engraved maps, including two fold-out, most by Robert Morden. 9 plates of coins or other antiquities, and numerous woodcut or copper engraved illustrations throughout, several of which are quite large including one nearly half page engraving of Stonehenge and with a frontispiece portrait of Camden. Folio, finely bound in full calf in contemporary style with blind paneled boards, the spine in correct period style with raised bands ruled in blind creating panels with a large central gilt tool, red morocco label boldly lettered in gilt and with gilt edge decoration. cxcvi, 1116, [44] pp. A very handsome and beautifully preserved copy of this scarce work, the text-block and maps and engravings in quite excellent condition, the leaves crisp and clean, occasional mild evidence of age, the binding in excellent, very fine condition.