A beautifully coloured map of Leicestershire, with an inset map of Leicester and a vignette with text showing the Battle of Bosworth, the climatic engagement of the Wars of the Roses in 1485.

John Speed (1552-1629) was the outstanding cartographer of his age. His ‘Theatre of Great Britain’ was the first atlas of the British Isles: Speed prepared the maps himself about two years before they were published. His maps and books dominated the seventeenth century English market. The present map is taken from the 1627 English edition published by George Humble.