Plans of Two Red Sea Ports, Antique Niebuhr Chart, 1776

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1776, plate LVIII of the first volume of Carsten Niebuhr's account of his travels in Arabia. The caption below the plate reads Platte Grond van twee Havens aan den Arabischen Zeeboezem. in Dutch and Plan de deux Ports du Golfe d'Arabie. in French, meaning "Plan of two harbors on the Arabian Gulf", the old name for the Red Sea.

The sheet is divided into two charts, one above the other. The upper chart is lettered IAMBO (Yanbu): the walled town sits on the shore at the top, with a curved jetty, scattered buildings and hills behind, while the bay below is marked with crosses for shoals, dotted lines along the shallows, four small islands in two pairs, one of them carrying two small buildings, an anchor and a circular compass with a fleur-de-lis. The lower chart is lettered GHÚNFUDE (Al Qunfudhah). Here the town lies on a straight shore at the upper left beside a winding channel, and a fan of rhumb lines radiates from a point in the open water, one of them ending in a fleur-de-lis. Below it a small island carries buildings and an anchor marks the roadstead, and a dotted line encloses an area of shoals marked with crosses.

The initials T.K.f. are engraved at the lower right below the border, and the plate number Tab. LVIII. 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 bottom, right and top edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners are present.

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