Description

MERIONITH. Comitatus olim pars Ordovicum.
Engraved by William Kip after Christopher Saxton.
First issued circa 1607 (with known re-issues 1637).

A fine early-17th-century engraving of Merionethshire (north-west Wales), from the celebrated 1607 atlas Britannia. A historically significant and decorative county map showing the landscape and settlements of the old Welsh county.

This map features:

• Original 17th-century engraving on laid paper (watermark visible)

• Clear delineation of county boundaries, rivers, hills, and forests

• Numerous towns and villages — Dolgellau, Bala, Harlech, Barmouth, Towyn, Pennal, Machynlleth, and many smaller localities — showing the historic layout of Merioneth.

• Classical sea-style shading for the Irish Sea (Mare Hibernicum) and coastal features.

• Title in Latin: “Merionith Comitatus olim pars Ordovicum” — traditional naming as the lands of the ancient Ordovices tribe.

This map provides a rare window into early-17th-century Wales: before modern roads, before industrialization, when counties were still defined by ancient tribal boundaries.

Published by Saxton & Kip, this map is one of the earliest printed cartographic records of Merionethshire, and therefore sought after by collectors of historic British maps, Welsh history, genealogy, and early modern cartography.

Specifications: 38 x 32cm

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