The third available map of Wiltshire most likely based on Christopher Saxton's map of 1579, 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.

This is another example of Camden’s maps which do not show a source although Kip's name is present as the engraver; Christopher Saxton did issue a singular map of Wiltshire in 1579 which was then copied in van de Keere’s miniature atlas of c.1605. Neither Norden nor Smith are recorded as having drawn a map of the county. Interestingly, there is one major difference between Camden and Saxton’s maps which may suggest a possible alternate source to Saxton: Camden’s map is oriented to show north to the left of the sheet while Saxton’s map is more orthodox, showing north to the top of his sheet.
The example offered here is from the 1637 edition of the work and is distinguished by particularly fine original colouring from the same year. [WILTS392]