Original Antique Print of Arabic, Persian and Ancient Inscriptions, 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 large sheet of inscriptions copied in several scripts and keyed with the capital letters A to I.

The upper half holds the panels A, B and C. A is written in several separate blocks; B is a set of lines in a large flowing Arabic script; C is laid out in two columns of short lines in a flowing hand. Below them, D is again in two columns, and E runs in long lines across the right half of the sheet.

The lower part holds F, G, H and I. F and G are written in a cursive script quite unlike the others, and H and I mix lines of that script with lines in Greek capitals. Large patches of dark hatching run across these lower panels, and the text is broken around them. No title, caption or signature is engraved on this sheet. The plate number Tab. XXVII. 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.

Irregular sheet, with large losses at the lower right and lower left corner, outside the engraved text. Uneven toning. Handling soiling at the top and bottom edges. Foxing over much of the margin. Folding plate, folds as issued.

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