The third available map of the county of Durham, 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.

Durham has a unique status within the Britannia in that it portrays the Bishopric or the possessions of the Church in the county. This distinction goes back to Anglo Saxon times, when the Bishop of Lindisfarne had the additional title of Bishop of Durham and oversaw both the civil and ecclesiastical authorities in the county which was actually part of York. This distinction was rooted in the acquisition of properties by the Church of St. Cuthbert. This developed over time into the Bishopric and County Palatine of Durham with the incumbent having the unique position of being both Bishop and Earl of Durham. The Church maintained this pre-eminent position until 1836.

Camden follows Saxton’s map in naming this map both Bishopric and County Palatine; this was followed by Speed and later map makers in the 17th century. However, the practice tends to disappear from the 18th century onwards when the nomenclature of “County" or "County Palatine” becomes prevalent.

Both Saxton in 1579 and van den Keere c.1605 include a map of the Bishopric in their respective works making this the third available map of the county.

The example offered here is from the 1637 edition and is distinguished by the addition of beautiful original colour contemporaneous to time of publishing. [DURHAM977]