From 1608, George Humble was granted a privilege to print Speed’s 'Theatre' for twenty-one years. He published the 'Theatre' and 'History' together in 1611–1612. An 'Epitome', or miniature version was published in 1619–1620. The combined atlas, as here, remained in print for more than 150 years: in the hands of different publishers, there were numerous editions to 1676 with text; later printings into the 1770s were issued without text.

The maps in Speed's ‘Theatre’ include six maps of America, four of which appear for the first time including maps of New England and New York, Virginia and Maryland and a new 'Description of Carolina', by Francis Lamb. Also included are maps of the continents as well as a world map, based on Ortelius’ model (but shows California as an island). 

Folio. Letterpress general title page printed in red and black, four sectional title pages, and ten leaves of tables of routes. Additional engraved title page and arms of Charles II, the 'Theatre'; seventy double-page engraved maps of the Counties of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland most by Jodocus Hondius after Christopher Saxton; the 'Prospect' with twenty-eight double-page engraved maps of various parts of the world.

’s 'Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine' followed the model of Ortelius's 'Theatrum Orbis Terrarum', first published in English in 1606. The maps were glossed by historical and geographical texts and gazetteers. The British Isles took special prominence in the atlas and included the first detailed maps of the provinces of Ireland, the first set of county maps consistently attempting to show the boundaries of territorial divisions and the first truly comprehensive set of English town plans. 

Perhaps as many as fifty of the seventy-three towns represented had not previously been mapped, and about fifty-one of the plans were probably Speed's own work. A balance is struck between the modern and historical, with information placed on the edges of the maps about antiquarian remains and sites and vignettes of famous battles, together with arms of princes and nobles. This additional information is one of the work's most original contributions.

Speed dedicated his 'Theatre', the first atlas of the British Isles, to King James VI as 'inlarger and uniter of the British Empire: restorer of the British name' (ruled 1567–1625). The work was immensely popular and three new editions and issues of each title were published during Speed's lifetime.

Hemisphere world map

Title page

Map of Great Britain 

Map of the German Sea/ Map of the British Sea

Map of Great Britain under the Saxony Heptarchy 

Map of England 

Map of Kent

Map of Sussex

Map of Surrey

Map of Hampshire

Map of the Isle of Wight

Map of Dorset

Map of Devon

Map of Cornwall

Map of Somerset

Map of Wiltshire 

Map of Berkshire

Map of Middlesex

Map of Suffolk 

Map of Norfolk 

Map of Cambridgeshire

Map of Hertfordshire

Map of Bedfordshire

Map of Buckinghamshire

Map of North England 

Map of Gloucestershire 

Map of Herefordshire

Map of Worcestershire

Map of Warrick

Map of Northampton 

Map of Huntingdon

Map of Rutland 

Map of Leicester

Map of Lincolnshire 

Map of Nottingham

Map of Derbyshire

Map of Staffordshire

Map of Shropshire

Map of Chester

Map of Lancaster

Map of Yorkshire

Map of Yorkshire: West Riding

Map of Yorkshire: North and East Riding 

Map of Durham 

Map of Westmorland 

Map of Cumberland

Map of Northumberland 

Map of the Isle of Man

Map of Wales

Map of Pembrokeshire 

Map of Carmarthenshire

Map of Glamorganshire

Map of Monmouthshire

Map of Brecknockshire

Map of Radnorshire

Map of Cardiganshire

Map of Montgomeryshire 

Map of Merionethshire

Map of Denbighshire

Map of Flintshire

Map of Caernarvonshire 

Map of Anglesey

Map of the invasion of the English in Ireland 

Map of Scotland 

Map of Ireland 

Map of Munster

Map of Leinster

Map of Connaught

Map of Ulster

Map of Asia

Map of Africa

Map of Europe

Map of the Americas

Map of Greece

Map of the Roman Empire

Map of Germany

Map of Bohemia

Map of France

Map of lower Germany

Map of Spain

Map of Italy 

Map of Hungary

Map of Denmark

Map of Poland 

Map of Persia

Map of the Turkish Empire

Map of the Kingdom of China

Map of Tartary

Map of Bermuda 

Map of Virginia and Maryland 

Map of North America 

Map of the Caribbean

Map of Carolina 

Map of the East Indies

Map of Russia

Map of Canaan

The 1676 edition is often referred to as the best and most important edition of Speed’s combined atlases: the 'Theatre of the empire of Great Britaine', and 'The Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World', as it includes newly prepared English maps of New England, Virginia, the Carolinas, Barbados and Jamaica. It is also the last edition to be printed with text on the verso of the maps.

Contemporary blind-panelled calf, with central miniature inlay map of the British Isles.

The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine

Speed's Atlas of the World

Presenting An Exact Geography of the Kingdomes of England, Scotland, and Ireland and the Isles Adjoyning with the Shires Hundreds Citys and the Shire Townes within the Kingdome of England Devided and Described as also a Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World by John Speed With Many Additions Never Before Extant.