Richard Blome, 1673Richard Blome, 1673Part of a multiframe sheet. IoM map 140mm x 275mm - Subtitle Y Isle of Man
|
Arms: Will Earle of Derby, Thomas Barrington, Sr George Carteret, Christopher Hatton |
 Y Isle of Man |
Map 50 in
Britannia: or, A Geographical Description of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, with the Isles and Terrotories thereto belonging. And for the better perfecting of the said work, there is added an Alphabetical Table of the Names, Titles and Seats of the Nobility and Gentry that each County of England and Wales is, or lately was, enobled with. Illustrated with a Map of each County of England besides several general ones The like never before publishedLondon Printed by Tho Ryecroft for the Undertaker Richard Blome MDCLXXIII
Fifty poorly drawn and sketchy maps by R Blome; all have dedications by Blome, plain at back
Richard Blome (1635, d.1705; fl 1660-1705); Active as map and bookseller for over 40 years, much of output was on geographic or heraldic subjects. Status not high. Principal work, in which the IoM map is found, is his atlas of county maps, Britannia, described by some as ' a most entire piece of theft out of Cambden and Speed'.
R.V.Tooley's [Maps and Mapmakers 1949, 7th ed 1987] comment on Richard Blome is more charitable than most:
Blome has been roughly handled by the critics, accused of plagarism and downright theft. It is true that he did no original work and that much of the engraving done for him is not in the best manner, yet he is far from being the only sinner in either respect; and if he does not please the purist or specialist, at least his maps are typical of his period and have given much pleasure to the many collectors whose prime consideration is not the utility of their maps, but their decorative quality or the period atmosphere they evoke.
Baynton-Williams in his biography is also similarly more charitable - he also describes Blome's approach to financing his productions by selling subscriptions in which the subscriber would pay a proportion of the fee in advance, and the balance on delivery of the volume, the subscriber's Arms being engraved on a map of their choice (these arms could be substituted by those of others, if for a subsequent edition the original subscriber refused to pay a 'renewal' fee).
Chubb XCIX; Skelton 90
|
|
||
 |
Biography of Richard Blome from Map Forum | |
|
|
||
| Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received
The Editor © F.Coakley, 2006 |
||
