Antique Map of Babylon, Baghdad and the Euphrates, 1780

An original antique copper engraved map, published in 1780, of the country between the Euphrates and the Tigris from above Baghdad down to Semaue. No title is engraved in the margin of this sheet.

The Euphrates, lettered Euphrat Fl., runs from the upper left down the sheet, and the Tigris, lettered Didsjele Fl., passes BAGDAD in the upper part of the map. Routes are drawn as dotted lines. Along the Euphrates are Babylon ruin, Helle, Nimrod Birs and, lower down, Mesched Ali with Kufa ruin beside it, then Divanie, Lemlum and Semaue at the lower right. Near Baghdad are Agarkuf and, on the Tigris, Medaien of Tacht Kesre. Hills are hachured at the top of the sheet. A panel headed Latitudo Locorum gives latitudes for Semaue, Abu haruk, Lemlum, Helle, Bagdad and Korsa. A scale at the lower left is lettered Schaale van 10 Duitsche Mylen and Echelle de 10 Miles d'Allemagne, a compass rose is engraved at the upper right, and latitude scales run down both side borders.

The plate number Tab. XLI. is engraved at the upper right, and the credit C. H. K. f. is lettered below the lower left corner.

This sheet belongs to volume two of Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie, translated from the German (Traduit de l'Allemand) and published at Amsterdam by S. J. Baalde and at Utrecht by Barthelemy Wild in 1780. Carsten Niebuhr (1733 to 1815), a German born surveyor in Danish service, was the only member of the Danish expedition to Arabia (1761 to 1767) to return alive. The expedition's artist, Georg Wilhelm Baurenfeind, died at sea in 1763.

Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the right and top edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left and top left corners. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the bottom.

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