This is the first map of the county of Lancashire. Christopher Saxton (c.1542-c.1610) was born in the West Riding of Yorkshire. While the details of his early life are sketchy, it is known that he attended Cambridge University, and in 1570 he was apprenticed as a map maker to John Rudd, Vicar of Dewsbury. In 1577 he received letters patent from Elizabeth I protecting his maps against plagiarism for the next ten years. As well as the Queen’s protection, Saxton also enjoyed the patronage of Thomas Seckford, Master of the Queen’s Requests, whose mottoes are found on the maps. Saxton began work on his county maps in about 1574. He had this map engraved in 1577 as dated in the title, but the atlas was not completed until 1579.

It was engraved by Remigius Hogenberg (1536?-88?), a native of Mechelen and brother to the famous Frans Hogenberg who co-published the ‘Civitates Orbis Terrarum’ and worked extensively for Abraham Ortelius. The first printed map of the county in the usual second state with the addition of Saxton’s name. Provenance: Pacific Book Auctions 1 November 2007 lot 118. Barber (2007) pp. 1623-31; Chubb (1927) 1; Evans & Lawrence (1979); Harley (1979); Hind (1952-64) I pp. 64-78; Lawrence (1984); Saunders (2013) pp. 13-16; Shannon & Winstanley (2007) ‘Lord Burghley’s Map of Lancashire Revisited, c.1576-1590’, in ‘Imago Mundi’ 59 Part 1 pp. 24-42; Shirley (2007); Skelton (1970) 1.