Rare map of England, Wales sold for $1.3 million

A rare copy of the first printed atlas of England and Wales, which also contains the first map of any modern city within the United States, was sold for about 1.3 million dollars Thursday.
The atlas, which was printed between 1579 and 1590, sold to an anonymous telephone bidder at London auction house Sotheby's for 669,000 pounds (978,000 euros), including buyer's premium.
Queen Elizabeth I is thought to have commissioned surveyor Christopher Saxton to produce the maps, which give a picture of the geography of England and Wales on paper in its entirety for the first time. The atlas is bound with a set of five maps by the Italian cartographer Giovanni Battista Boazio, illustrating British explorer Sir Francis Drake's expedition to the West Indies and the United States between 1585 and 1586. The view of St Augustine in Florida is the earliest printed plan of any city in the modern United States.
Sotheby's deputy director of books and manuscripts, Richard Fattorini, said the atlas was the first map of England and Wales. It was completed in 1579, but publication was delayed until 1590 to prevent Queen Elizabeth I's sworn enemies at the time, the Spanish, acquiring information about England's coastline.