Braun & Hogenberg, [Chester, England] Cestria Vulgo Chester, Angliae Civitas

BRAUN, Georg (1541-1622) & HOGENBERG, Frans (1535-1590).[Chester, England].Cestria Vulgo Chester, Angliae Civitas.Engraved map with original hand color.From Civitas Orbis Terrarum, Cologne, c. 1588.15 1/4" x 19 5/8" sheet.CARTOUCHE BOTTOM: The River Dee divides England and Wales. It has its source in the north of Wales and flows into the sea called Tegaeus, in whose waters lives a specific type of fish that never swims up river, just as the salmon that swarm the river never venture into the aforesaid sea.COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "The name of the town founder is unknown, if one has seen the houses constructed from enormous stones, one believes that the city was the work of giants or the Romans, in any case not the English. One also finds inscribed ancient names, that of Julius Caesar among others. [...] The city has a hospital and quarantine stations, nine parish churches and an attractive cathedral."The schematic bird's-eye view shows the city from the south, ringed by a nearly square-