A Sassanian Pahlavi Inscription Copied in Persia, Antique Print, 1780

This is an original antique copper engraving, published in 1780, from the second volume of Carsten Niebuhr's travels. The plate carries no title or caption; it is a single long inscription in a cursive script, copied line by line inside a ruled double border.

The text runs in more than twenty lines down the whole height of the frame, the letters joined in a flowing hand with rounded loops and hooks. The lines are uneven in length, some starting further in than others, and toward the bottom of the panel the writing becomes more widely spaced.

Patches of fine stipple stand in place of letters, many of them in a band running down the center of the text. A number of words are underlined in the copy, and a few signs are separated by short double strokes. No title, caption or signature is engraved on this sheet. The plate number Tab: XXXIV. is engraved at the upper right, above the border.

The plate comes from the second volume, Tome Second, of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, Traduit de l'Allemand, published by S. J. Baalde at Amsterdam and Barthelemy Wild at Utrecht, with the date MDCCLXXX, 1780, on its title page. Carsten Niebuhr (1733 to 1815) was a German born surveyor in Danish service and the only member of the Danish expedition to Arabia (1761 to 1767), sent by King Frederick V of Denmark, to return alive. The account was first published in German at Copenhagen; this is the French translation printed in Amsterdam and Utrecht.

Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the right and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left and top right corners.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.