Views of Mardin and of the Village of Nunia or Nineveh, Antique Print, 1780

An original antique copper engraving, published in 1780, with two views, one above the other. The upper caption reads Gezigt der Stad Merdîn. and Vue de la Ville de Merdîn., "View of the City of Mardin", and the lower caption Gezigt van het Dorp Nunia of Ninive. and Vue du Village Nunia ou Ninive., "View of the Village of Nunia or Nineveh".

The upper view shows Mardin built in close rows of flat roofed houses up the side of a steep hill, with a walled castle on the summit marked 1. Further heights marked 3, 4 and 5 rise around it, a small cluster of houses and trees stands at the right, and birds fly across a sky of heavy cloud. The lower view looks across water to a long low rise with the village of Nunia along its crest, a building with a tall pointed roof and two smaller pointed turrets at its left end marked 1 and the houses marked 2. Hills marked 3 and 4 rise at the right, with a few trees on the slope, and a flock of birds crosses the sky at the left.

The plate number Tab. XLVII. is engraved at the upper right, and the engraver's credit Th. Koning, sculps. is lettered below the lower left corner of the lower view.

This sheet belongs to volume two of Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie, translated from the German (Traduit de l'Allemand) and published at Amsterdam by S. J. Baalde and at Utrecht by Barthelemy Wild in 1780. Carsten Niebuhr (1733 to 1815), a German born surveyor in Danish service, was the only member of the Danish expedition to Arabia (1761 to 1767) to return alive. The expedition's artist, Georg Wilhelm Baurenfeind, died at sea in 1763.

Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the bottom edge. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners are present. One larger brown mark.

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