The first available map of the county of Nottinghamshire, based on Christopher Saxton's map of 1579 but here reduced by William Kip for Camden’s 1637 edition of the “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 a library staple that
further editions were issued into the early 19th century, albeit with different
maps.

The Saxton Kip or Saxton Hole maps, as they are generally
known, provide an almost unique opportunity for the collector to acquire either
the first available or second available map 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.

Although Saxton is given as the source of this map, his rendition of Nottinghamshire also included the neighbouring county of Lincolnshire on the same sheet. Neither the partial sets of county maps by John Norden of the 1590s nor the partial set of county maps printed by William Smith of 1602-3 included a map of the county so this is the first available map of the county of Nottinghamshire by itself. 

The example offered here is from the 1637 edition of the work and is distinguished by particularly fine original colouring from the same year. [NOTTS261]