400-year-old atlas of Britain to go on display
20th April 2011
John Speed’s Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine is regarded as one of the world’s great cartographic treasures. Each page is coloured and illustrated by hand, with the county maps featuring drawings of famous battles, local coats of arms and historic sites.
The atlas was first published in 1611-12 and and acquired by the Cambridge University Library in 1968. To mark the 400th anniversary, the university has digitised each page and put them online for the public to view.