Antique Plan of the City of Shiraz in Persia, Niebuhr, 1780

This is an original antique copper engraving, published in 1780, from the second volume of Carsten Niebuhr's travels. The plate carries no caption in the margin; the town is named within its walls as SCHIRÂS, the city of Shiraz.

The town is drawn as a rounded walled circuit with towers set along the wall. Six gates are lettered around it, among them Isfahân P., Bagkscha P., Kasserûn P., Schadai P. and Sade P. Inside the walls a few buildings are marked: Sarbach, Schahi Scherá, Zeüdel Hössein, the arsenal lettered Tuighuis Arsenal and the powder store lettered Kruit Magazyn and Magasin à Poudre. A compass rose with a fleur de lis pointer stands in the upper part of the town.

Outside the walls the fields and gardens are engraved in fine dashed lines, with trees, roads and small buildings, among them Mir Hamza and Chatûn, with a group lettered B at the upper right. Several roads leave the gates, their names lettered along them in Dutch as Weg and in French as Chemin. A scale lettered Pas geomet. runs at the lower left. The lower left margin is signed T.K.f., and the plate number Tab. XXXV. is engraved at the upper right.

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.

Slight wear at the bottom right corner. The right edge is uneven. Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the left, right and top edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin.

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