Plan and Elevation of a Mill at Cairo, Antique Niebuhr Print, 1776

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1776, the plan and elevation of a mill at Cairo. The caption reads in Dutch Platte Grond en Opstal van een' Molen te Kàhira. and in French Plan et Dessein d'un Moulin à Káhira., meaning ground plan and elevation of a mill at Cairo.

The upper drawing, lettered B, is the elevation. A tall upright shaft rises from a pit, with a curved beam, lettered C, fixed to it by a slanting brace, and a large horizontal toothed wheel turning near the floor. At the right the wheel meets a small gear under a box frame that carries a hopper, lettered D, over the stones. A scale lettered Ped: Dan: runs from 1 to 8 below. The lower drawing, lettered A, is the plan seen from above: a circular track worn into the floor, the great spoked wheel with the beam C reaching out across the track, and at the right a boarded housing over the millstone. Beside it, D is drawn again in a small plan of its own.

The credit C. J. de Huyser, direx. is lettered under the lower right corner, and the plate number Tab: XVI. is engraved at the upper right.

The plate comes from the first volume of Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, the French translation of Carsten Niebuhr's account, its title page reading TOME PREMIER. Traduit de l'Allemand. A AMSTERDAM, chez S. J. BAALDE. A UTRECHT, chez J. VAN SCHOONHOVEN & COMP. MDCCLXXVI. 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. Marked handling soiling along the bottom and right edges. Foxing over much of the margin. Slight wear at the bottom right and top left corners. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the right.

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