NORDEN, John

by John Norden

£9,000 · Offered by Sokol Books

.A charming pair of works by renowned Elizabethan cartographer John Norden, surveying the history, political and geographical organisation, and general features of the counties of Middlesex, where Norden had his permanent home, and Hertfordshire. His other surveys, which included Essex, Northampton, Cornwall, Kent and Surrey, were published at various later dates Norden s intention was to compose a series of county histories, but lack of money intervened to prevent the completion of this design . These were the only two published in his lifetime. . . ..The first text lists the Saxon Alphabet before briefly laying out the (mostly Saxon) history of the county. The author lists and describes small scale geographical areas, such as hundreds, parks, roads, hills and market towns, as well local battles, ending with an alphabetical survey of settlements and houses of repute within the county, including coats of arms. He delves into the chronology of certain important sites, referring to a variety of sources such as Camden and Thomas Walsingham. . . ..The maps are early examples of Flemish engraver and globe-maker Pieter can den Keere s work, whose map of Ireland served as a model for later editions of Ortelius Theatrum. He also produced a series of 44 plates of the British Isles, based on the works of Saxton, Ortelius and Boazio, which began to appear from 1599. The map of Middlesex includes certain natural geographical features such as hills and forests, and the city of London is r

• Binding: Hardcover

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