"Of the Incomparable Treasure
of the Holy Scriptures"

2. Biblical Genealogies
John Speed's Biblical Genealogies
Speed, John, 1552?-1629. The Genealogies Recorded in the Sacred Scriptures: According to Every Family and Tribe, with the Line of our Saviour Iesus Christ, Observed from Adam to the Blessed Virgin Mary. [S.l.: s.n., 16--?] 1], 34, [4] p.: geneal. tables, map; 23 cm. [Safe 306.11 1635]

On display: The first generations.
Additional views:
   Title page
   Descendants of Japeth
   Descendants of Shem
   Descendants of Ham

John Speed (1552?-1629) abandoned his trade as a tailor to engage in mapmaking and writing history. His History of Great Britain (1611) is sometimes described as the first "modern" British history.

His Genealogies Recorded in the Sacred Scriptures was also first published in 1611. It includes over thirty charts, which give a visual representation to genealogies recorded in the Bible, beginning with the descendants of Adam and Eve shown here. This work was quite popular. By 1640 there were no less than thirty-three editions of this work, many of them being published with various editions of the Bible.


Source of information:
The Dictionary of National Biography: From the Earliest Times to 1900. Founded in 1882 by George Smith; edited by Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee. London: Oxford University Press, 1921-1922.


Top    -     Next Item    -     Main Page

This online exhibit was prepared in 1998.
Copyright ©1998-2005 by the President & Fellows of Harvard College
Address corrections or comments to Clifford Wunderlich.

Online Exhibits | Library Home Page