Antique Plan of Loheia and Its Surroundings, Niebuhr, 1776

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1776, plate LX of the first volume of Carsten Niebuhr's account of his travels in Arabia, a folding plate. The caption reads Grondtékening der Stad en Omleggende Streek van Loheia. in Dutch and Plan de la Ville et des Environs de Loheia. in French, meaning "Plan of the town and surrounding district of Loheia", the Red Sea port now called Al Luhayyah in Yemen.

The town is drawn as a dark hatched block divided into quarters, with the name LOHEIA spaced along it and small numbers placed in and around it as references. Behind the town rise several hills, one crowned with a building, and the land around is stippled with scrub and small plants, crossed by dotted tracks. A long curving strip of land stretches across the lower half of the sheet, lettered M. Kähhr, ending at the right in a narrow spit with a small building labeled Schech Abda-náue. On the right half a fan of rhumb lines radiates from a central point, one ending in a fleur-de-lis, and a further shoreline runs along the right border. A scale of Passus geom: from 100 to 800 is set at the upper right.

The initials T. K. f. are engraved at the lower right below the border, and the plate number Tab. LX. at the upper right.

The plate comes from the first volume of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, Traduit de l'Allemand (translated from the German), published A Amsterdam, chez S. J. Baalde and A Utrecht, chez J. van Schoonhoven & Comp., with the date MDCCLXXVI (1776) on the 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. Folding plate, original center fold as issued. All four corners are present.

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