Original, 1637 edition, copperplate map of Breckonoc Comitaus, engraved by Robert Vaughan, after Christopher Saxton for William Camden’s “Britannia”. See full details below.

Copperplate engraving, printed in black ink on laid paper, with crowned shield watermark.

In a modern 'Hogarth' style print frame, with single mount. 

Plate 27cms by 32cms, frame 34cm x 41cm.

The map is in excellent original condition, vertical central fold and un-coloured is as issued, some light age toning to the sheet. Full margins, some tears in the lower margin (see photos). Frame with some very slight nicks and scratches, mount clean (see photos).

Comes with our Certificate of Authenticity - guaranteed authentic and original.

Delivered ready to hang.

Overseas buyers please check delivery charge to your location through the Ebay Global Shipping Program.

Brecknoc Comitatus - Christopher Saxton & Robert Vaughan, 1637. For William Camden’s “Britannia”.

William Camden first published his venerable geo-historical compendium of Great Britain and Ireland, “Britannia” in 1586 and it proved extremely popular. By 1589, encouraged by the success of Christopher Saxton’s atlas, Camden began preparations to illustrate his work with a set of county maps. Despite this lengthy lead time, the first time the work contained a set of county maps was in the 1607 sixth edition of the work. The maps injected a new lease of life into the publication, and it became such as staple that further editions were issued into the early 19th century, albeit with different maps.

The Saxton Hole maps, as they are generally known, because William Hole engraved the maps from Christopher Saxton’s original drawings, are some of the earliest available maps of a particular English county. These maps were only present in the sixth, seventh and eighth edition of the Britannia published 1607, 1610 and 1637 before the maps were revised and updated by other cartographers. They were usually issued in black and white but on very rare occasions, bespoke colouring was added at the time of publishing.

Brecknock was a historical county in Wales but now it is an administrative district with Powys. A change on the edition of this example is the replacement of William Kip by Robert Vaughan as the engraver. This change is specific to the 1637 edition of the map.