Antique Map of the Island of Bombay, Niebuhr Engraving, 1780
€ 330
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1780
Mapmaker / artist
Carsten Niebuhr; engraved by C. H. Koning
Publisher
S. J. Baalde, Amsterdam, and Barthelemy Wild, Utrecht
Technique
Copper engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14407-2-1
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the right and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom right and top right corners. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the right.
About this sheet
This is an original antique copper engraving from 1780, a map of the island of Bombay from the second volume of Carsten Niebuhr's travels. The caption in the lower margin reads Het Eiland Bombay. in Dutch and L'Isle de Bombay. in French, both meaning "The Island of Bombay".
The island is drawn as a long, irregular ring of land around a broad inner bay, with rhumb lines radiating from a compass point on the right hand shore. The fortified town, lettered de Stad Bombay and la Ville de Bombay, sits on a point at the lower right, with Dungare just above it and at the bottom, across a narrow channel, land lettered l'Isle des Vielles femmes. At the top are Mahim with Mahim Fort, Sion Fort, Darway and Rivale Batt, and across the water at the upper left is Het Eiland Sallet (l'Isle de Sallet) with St. Andreas. Along the right hand shore are Mosque, Warala, Parell, salt pans lettered Zoutpannen and Salines, Mazagon Fort and the offshore Cros Eil.; on the left are Worle Fort, Breach Battery, a pagoda, the Mallabar Heuvels and a burial ground of the Parsis. A bar scale in the bay is lettered Schaal van 1 1/2 Engel. Myl. and Echelle de 1 1/2 Mile d'Angleterre. A long inscription along the inner shore at the lower left marks the bank where the heathens burn their dead (Rivage, ou les payens brulent leurs Morts).
The plate is lettered "C. H. Koning sculps." below the lower left corner of the border, and "Tab. I." at the upper right.
The plate comes from the second volume of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, the French translation printed for S. J. Baalde at Amsterdam and Barthelemy Wild at Utrecht; the title page of the volume reads TOME SECOND and is dated MDCCLXXX. The account was first published in German at Copenhagen, and this is the French translation printed in Amsterdam and Utrecht. 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.
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the right and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom right and top right corners. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the right.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
