Attractive and rare 17th century map of the county of Dorset, accompanied by a panel listing the counties’ Hundreds, an embellished title cartouche and a dedication to the Hon. Humphrey Weld of Lulworth. Original colour.

Richard Blome (1641-1705) began his career as an heraldic painter. He later became a successful publisher and cartographer, producing pleasantly decorative maps, full of the naive charm which characterises British engraving of the time.

In 1673 he published his "Britannia" atlas, from which this map would have originated. Many of the maps are loosely based on earlier examples by John Speed and William Camden - a liberty which provoked Bishop William Nicholson, a contemporary of Blome's, to condemn the atlas as "a most entire piece of theft out of Camden and Speed". But plagiarism in cartography was nothing new and, unlike many other cartographers, Blome was at least generous enough to acknowledge his debt to his predecessors.

In 1681, Blome issued a smaller set of county maps entitled "Speed's Maps Epitomised". This proved more popular than the earlier work and was re issued at later dates by the London booksellers Taylor and Bakewell.

Blome financed his projects by means of advance subscriptions obtained by selling the dedication of each map for £4 to the Lord Lieutenant or a nobleman of each county. Both sets of maps have ornate cartouches and the coats of arms of the subscribers. As there was no shortage of patrons, the dedications often changed between issues and examples are known with new arms pasted over the originals. The maps engraved by Wenceslaus Hollar are particularly handsome.

Blome produced several other cartographical works including the "Descriptions of the World" 1670 (after the “Father of French Cartography, Nicolas Sanson), "Cosmography" 1682 , the "Isles and Territories of America" 1687, and plans of the wards and parishes of London.