Antique Map of the Shatt al Arab and Basra, Niebuhr, 1780
€ 340
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. K.
Publisher
S. J. Baalde, Amsterdam, and Barthelemy Wild, Utrecht
Technique
Copper engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Sheet size
28 × 22 cm (11.0 × 8.7 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14407-2-40
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 bottom edge. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners are present.
About this sheet
An original antique copper engraved map, published in 1780, of the river country between Samaue and the head of the Persian Gulf. No title is engraved in the margin; the river is lettered Euphrat Fl. and its mouth, at the lower left, Uitwateringen van den Schat el Arab in de Golf van Persie with the French Embouchures du Schat el Arab dans la Golfe Persique, "the outflow of the Shatt al Arab into the Persian Gulf".
The river runs diagonally down the sheet from Samaue at the top right, past Ardsje, Kud, Mansurie and Korne, where a second river joins from the right, to BASRA and the branching mouth at the lower left. Small circles mark villages close together along both banks. West of the river are Zobeir, Djabbel Senâm drawn as a small hill, and Grän on the coast near the island lettered Bubean. Tribal names such as Beni Châled and Kaab are lettered across the open country. At the upper left a panel headed Latitudo Locorum lists latitudes for Basra, Mansurie, Abadu, Kud, Ardsje, Graim and Semaue, under a scale lettered Schaal van 10 Duitsche Mylen and Echelle de 10 Miles d'Allemagne. Degree scales run along the top and bottom borders and a compass rose is engraved at the lower right.
The plate number Tab. XL. is engraved at the upper right, and the credit C. H. K. f. is lettered below the lower left corner.
The plate comes from the second volume of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, Tome Second, the French translation printed at Amsterdam by S. J. Baalde and at Utrecht by Barthelemy Wild, with the title page dated MDCCLXXX. 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 edge. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners are present.
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.
