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. The work was immensely popular and three new editions and issues of each title during Speed's lifetime. An ‘Epitome’, or miniature version was published in 1619–1620.

The maps for the ‘Theatre’ are highlighted by the world map showing California as an Island, maps of the continents, and six maps of America, four of which appear for the first time including: ‘A Map of New England and New York’ (Burden 455), ‘A Map of Virginia and Maryland’ (Burden 456), and ‘A new Description of Carolina’ (Burden 457), by Francis Lamb.

This was also the earliest English attempt at producing detailed maps of the provinces of Ireland. Additionally, 

 created county maps that consistently attempted to show the boundaries of territorial divisions and the first truly comprehensive set of English town plans, a notable contribution to British topography. Perhaps as many as fifty of the seventy-three towns had not previously been mapped, and about fifty-one of the plans were probably Speed's own work.

In 1606 Speed likely had assistance from his son John in the surveys undertaken for the town plans. 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 Theatre's most significant contributions. Scotland is covered in less detail, as Timothy Pont was surveying there.

 (1551–1629) was the son of a Merchant Taylor in London, who rose from his family occupation to become one of the more influential cartographers of his era. His earliest cartographic works were historical, and included, in 1595, a wall map of the Holy Land, ‘Canaan as it was Possessed both in Abraham and Israels Dayes’, a two-sheet map of ‘The Invasions of England and Ireland with all their Civill Warres since the Conquest’ (1601), and a wall map of England, Wales, and Ireland showing the same information (c. 1603–1604). 

Meanwhile, the individual maps for his first atlas were being prepared from about 1602. The plates were engraved by Jodocus Hondius from 1607, and George Humble was granted a privilege to print it for twenty-one years from 1608. The ‘History of Great Britaine’ (1611) and its companion atlas volume, the ‘Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine’ (1612), were published together and ‘were an immediate success. Three new editions and issues of each appeared during Speed's lifetime, and a miniature version was first published about 1619–1620. The maps in the 'Theatre' became the basis for subsequent folio atlases until the mid-eighteenth century. By 1625, Speed had lost his sight. Nevertheless, in 1627 he published ‘A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World’, which shared a titlepage with the 1627 edition of the ‘Theatre’.

’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. 

 became successful by printing maps and genealogies for religious works, including the most widely printed book of all time: The Bible. This brought him to the attention and preferment of two monarchs: Queen Elizabeth I and James VI. In 1612, Speed dedicated his ‘Theatre’, the first atlas of the British Isles, to James as ‘inlarger and uniter of the British Empire: restorer of the British name’; and was preparing his atlas glorifying the greater British Empire, including the American colonies, at the time of James’s death. 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.

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

's famous atlas marked the “high point of its publishing history" (Burden). It 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.

Folio. Letterpress general title-page printed in red and black, 4 sectional title-pages, and ten leaves of tables of routes. Additional engraved title-page and arms of Charles II, the 'Theatre' with 70 double-page engraved maps of the Counties of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland most by Jodocus Hondius after Christopher Saxton; the 'Prospect' with 28 double-page engraved maps of various parts of the world.

The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine

The First English 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.