Antique Print of Suratte by Baldaeus (1672)

Description: Antique print, titled: 'Suratte' - View of the Indian city of Suratte (Surat) showing a panoramic view of the city with figures, animals and a river with boats in the foreground. This original engraving originates from the 1672 German 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: Made by an anonymous engraver after 'Philip Baldaeus'. 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). Some plates in this work signed G. Appelmans fe., being the engraver.