Antique Print of Masulipatam by Baldaeus (1672)

Description: Antique print titled 'Masulipatam'. Original antique print showing a view of Masulipatam, India, with an elephant on foreground. This original engraving originates from the 1672 edition of Baldaeus' 'Nauwkeurige beschrijving Malabar en Choromandel, derz. aangrenzend rijken, en het machtige eiland Ceylon.' (transl: Description of the East Indian Countries of Malabar, Coromandel, Ceylon, etc.), printed in Amsterdam by Jacob van Velsen and published by Johannes Janssonius van Waesbergen en Johannes van Someren.

Artists and Engravers: Author: Philip Baldaeus (1632-1672). Father Philippus Baldaeus, Baelde or Philip Balde 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). Some lates in this work signed G. Appelmans fe., being the engraver.