Christopher Saxton’s map of the county of Hampshire is one of the earliest he produced, two were made in 1574 and according to Evans and Lawrence only two or three maps were likely to have preceded it in 1575. It was engraved by Lenaert Terwoort (fl.1575-91), he was one of a number of Dutch engravers of the work and apart from the five maps he contributed and that he originated from Antwerp, little is known of him. Saxton (1542?-1610?) produced one of the earliest national surveys of any kind and the first uniformly conceived cartographic survey of England and Wales. It was begun in about 1574 and completed by 1579: “in the long list of British atlases the first name is also the greatest, the name of Christopher Saxton” (Chubb). Evans and Lawrence wrote that he “left a legacy of maps of the counties of England and Wales from which succeeding generations of map-makers drew extensively … amazingly accurate in detail, [the atlas] survives as testimony to his expertise when surveying techniques and comprehension of the mathematical sciences were still limited.” They are arguably the most highly prized by collectors of county maps.

Philip Lea (fl.1666-1700) was a cartographer, globe, instrument maker and mapseller. His atlases were rarely uniform usually being made to order and his editions of Saxton’s atlas are similarly varying in content, although built around his stock of the original plates. These he acquired sometime around 1689, but from who is unknown. After acquisition Lea set about updating them for publication. This process involved extensive re-engraving of the old plates by incorporating new geographical and decorative material. However during this process some copies of the atlas were sold and two distinct issues have been identified with two different versions of the title page. The early edition dated c.1689 survives in just three known examples.

Lea gradually effected the alterations to the plates he desired which included converting the remaining Latin titles to English, the addition of crowns, crosses and mitres to represent various categories of town. Roads were added to the maps following the publication of John Ogilby’s landmark ‘Britannia’ in 1675. Similarly Hundreds were added to the remaining maps as were town plans. The finished set of plates was complete by 1693 and represents their final cartographic form as only the imprints were altered after this date. In the finished form they also appeared in a French edition entitled ‘Atlas Anglois contenant Les Cartes Nouvelles tres Exactes …’ surviving in a unique example. Provenance: private English collection. Barber (2007) pp. 1623-31; Chubb (1928) I; Evans & Lawrence (1979) pp. 9–43, 50-3, 63 & 159; Harley (1979); Hind (1952-55) vol. 1 p. 73; Lawrence (1984); Shirley (1991) no. 128; Shirley (2004) T.Sax 1h; Shirley (2007); Skelton (1970) nos. 110, 112 & 113; Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).