John Speed

The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, 1611 to 1612 The best-loved English county maps. Speed's manuscripts went to Amsterdam, where Jodocus Hondius engraved them on copper and sent proofs back to London for correction. The main title page is dated 1611, though the volume was finished in 1612. Speed added inset town plans, many of places never mapped before, making the Theatre the first collection of printed town plans of England and Wales. The plates stayed in use for generations, and each new publisher usually had the imprint re-engraved, so the name in the corner is your first dating clue. The Bassett & Chiswell edition of 1676 was the last complete one with both text and maps.