Bill, 1626

85mm h x 120mm w

Camden Britannia: Bill 1626

Abridgement of Camden's Britannia

The maps are copied from Saxton, but have latitude & longitude added, using the Azores as the prime meridian, based on information taken from Mercator's maps. These maps by John Bill are the first printed county maps to have latitude/longitude, with London shown as 24o 25' east.

On the reverse of each map plate is printed the description of the next county (except where they went wrong), so on the reverse of the Essex map is the description of Hartfordshire.

Displayed scale of 10 miles = 22mm, or 11.5 miles/inch; scale actual = 15.1 miles/inch, or 1:960,000.

As this is a small map with almost all the places named on Saxton you end up with a very crowded appearance. These maps were never reprinted, and are very much scarcer than the Van Den Keere maps.

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© Peter Walker 2013-2019