Antique Print of Masulipatam by Baldaeus (1744)

Description: Antique print, titled: 'The City of Masulipatam.' - View of Masulipatam, India, with an elephant on foreground. It was originally published in 1672 in Philip Baldeus's  A true and exact description of the most celebrated East India coast of Malabar and Coromandel, and of the island of Ceylon, with all the adjacent countries and was then published in English in Churchill's Voyages and Travels in 1744 (3rd ed).

From: Churchill's 'A Collection of Voyages and Travels, some now first printed from original manuscripts others now first printed in English', printed in 1744 for Henry Lintot and John Osborn.

Artists and Engravers: Made by 'Philip Baldaeus' after an anonymous artist. Author: Philip Baldaeus (1632-1672). Father Philippus Baldaeus, Baelde or Philip Balde (October 1632, Delft - 1672, Geervliet) was a Dutch minister. He went to Jaffna, Ceylon with an invading Dutch force during 17th Century. As the first European he documented the life, language and culture of Tamil people, living in the north of the island. It is a great historical record, similar to Mahawamsa, and it was immediately published in Dutch and German (with many beautiful plates).