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SAXTON, Christopher : Warwic, Lecestriaeq. Comitatt’ ... Descriptio 1576

395 x 520 mm., early outline colour with some wash, slightly faded as often found, some pinholes visible when held to the light, small area of restoration to the Royal Arms upper left, with minor printers paper crease upper left of the centrefold, generally in good condition.

This is Christopher Saxton’s map of the counties of Warwickshire and Leicestershire produced in 1576. This example bears a fascinating manuscript annotation of acquisition dated 1579. It supports the evidence that the maps were available individually quite probably as they were first engraved, in this case from 1576. It was acquired from the bookseller John Wight whose shop was at the Great North Door of St. Paul’s Churchyard, London. Wight was made a freeman of the Draper’s Company in 1540 and had a shop in the Churchyard from 1551 until his death in 1589. Progress in production was still slow at this stage operating as he was without an official license for support. It was engraved by Lenaert Terwoort whose imprint is lower left, he was one of a number of Dutch engravers of the work and apart from the five maps he contributed and that he originated from Antwerp little is known of him. This example is in the usual finished state, the earlier one being pre-issue.Christopher Saxton produced one of the earliest national surveys of any kind and the first uniformly conceived cartographic survey of England and Wales. It was begun in about 1574 and completed by 1579: “in the long list of British atlases the first name is also the greatest, the name of Christopher Saxton” (Chubb). Saxton (c.1542–c.1610) was born at Dunningley in the West Riding of Yorkshire. While the details of his early life are sketchy, it is known that he attended Cambridge University, and in 1570 he was apprenticed as a map maker to John Rudd, vicar of Dewsbury. Saxton began work on his county maps in about 1574. In 1577 he received letters patent from Elizabeth I protecting his maps against plagiarism for the next ten years. As well as the Queen’s protection, Saxton also enjoyed the patronage of Thomas Seckford, Master of the Queen’s Requests, whose mottoes are found on the maps. Evans and Lawrence wrote that he “left a legacy of maps of the counties of England and Wales from which succeeding generations of map-makers drew extensively … amazingly accurate in detail, [the atlas] survives as testimony to his expertise when surveying techniques and comprehension of the mathematical sciences were still limited.” They are arguably the most highly prized by collectors of county maps. Provenance: acquired by Johannes Colcellus from John Wight the bookseller “Iohannes Colcellus est possessor. Iohannes Wight ei Vendi dit pro 2li.18D 17.8.A[nno].1579”; private English collection acquired from a Cotswold Gallery 1987; CLive A. Burden Ltd. Catalogue 7 (2011) item 104. Barber (2007) pp. 1623-31; Chubb (1927) I; Deadman & Brooks (2010) pp. 14-15; Evans & Lawrence (1979) pp. 9–43; Harley, Brian ‘The Map Collector’ no. 8 pp. 2-11; Harvey & Thorpe (1959) pp. 1-5, no. 1; Hind (1952-55) vol. 1 p. 73; Lawrence, Heather ‘Christopher Saxton’ in ‘The Map Collector’ 27 pp. 16-18; Shirley (1991) no. 128; Shirley (2004) T.Sax 1b-e; Skelton (1970) 1.

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