These maps are titled "A Mapp of Devon Shire" and "Syria et Assyria". The first map is a 17th century county map done by Richard Blome in 1673, the map shows the county of Devon Shire in England and has elaborately decorated cartouches around the title and dedication. The "Table of the Hundreds" was a record, in particular land records arranged by hundreds, which showed parishes in the registration districts and was very helpful in assigning taxes. Richard Blome (1635 - 1705) was an engraver, cartographer, and publisher in England, and he published "Britannia, or a Geographical Description of the Kingdom of England, Scotland and Ireland " in 1673, among other works. The outer edges of the map measure 12 3/8 x 14 5/8 in. wide and the black border measures 10 18 x 12 1/4 in. wide, and there is a long hand-written message on the backside which is intriguing. The message is about famine and hunger in England in the 1600's and how people turned to religion to sustain them in the face of difficult times: a ship going from England to Boston and other parts of America "wore in very groat straights" [were in very great straights] and they had to cast lots about "whish of thom should Dye first" - [which of them should die first]; there was "ravonous hunger" - [ravenous hunger] - and one of them had to be picked to be executioner, so the others could live; they caught fish for food on the voyage, but ran out of fish, which "sunk thoir spirits, for thoy know not another morsel" - [which sunk their spirits, for they knew not of another morsel], and the message portrays the hardship and sacrifice they endured along the way. The map has a vertical fold down the middle, you can see the old ink showing through to the front side at the top and in the margins, there are some ragged edges at the bottom, some nicks and folds on the edges and a small tear on the left side, and the message on the backside just enhances the map. A great contemporary reminder of how bad it was for some people in England in the 1600's. The second map is titled "Syria et Assyria" - "Syria and Assyria" - published by Cummings and Hilliard on Cornhill in Boston around 1817, and it details parts of the Middle East that were relatively unknown to people at the time. It is a rare map - Cummings and Hilliard were in Boston from 1812 to 1820, and we found only two others offered for sale online - and in 1825, President Thomas Jefferson selected the successor Hilliard firm to supply approximately 7000 volumes on numerous topics to create the library at the University of Virginia. The map is 9 1/2 x 11 3/4 in. wide and 8 5/8 x 10 3/4 in. wide, with some loss on the right side, stains at the bottom, and brown spots near the margin on the lower left, and a hard to find map that enlightened Americans in the early 1800's #5133 Location U4