Books and Manuscripts

Speed, John
The Turkish Empire
(London): Roger Rea the Elder and younger, 1626 (but, 1662 or after). Engraved hand-colored map, 16 3/4 x 21 1/2 in. (425 x 546 mm). Center fold reinforced on verso; light soiling and mat burn along recto edges; light tape residue in verso corners. In mat and in frame, 24 3/4 x 29 1/2 in. (629 x 749 mm). 

Scarce Roger Rea edition of John Speed's map of the Turkish Empire, the first map of the region published in England. The Rea's purchased the rights to Speed's work in 1659 from William Garrett with the intention of publishing a new edition of his world atlas, A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World, later published by them around 1662. The elder Rea died in the Great Plague of 1665, and their shop and stock was then destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, thus making their editions very uncommon.