View of Timbuktu, Mali, Antique Steel Engraving, 1859
€ 370
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1859
Mapmaker / artist
Not named on the sheet
Publisher
Furne et Cie, Paris
Technique
Steel Engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-11494-17
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 handling wear to the top left corner; edges straight and without nicks. Even age toning, soiled along all four edges. No foxing noted in the margins.
About this sheet
An original antique steel engraving, uncolored, of Timbuktu on the edge of the Sahara, captioned "TOMBOUCTOU". The town is seen from a slight height as a dense spread of flat roofed, box shaped houses laid out in rows, interspersed with round domed huts and a few scattered trees. Tall tapering towers rise at the left and right, the one on the right within a walled enclosure, and a few small figures walk and ride between the houses. Bare dunes and sandy slopes stretch away behind the town under a pale sky.
The caption is the French name of the city, Timbuktu. Below it the publisher's line reads "Publié par Furne, à Paris" (Published by Furne, in Paris), and in small letters at the lower right corner of the image the printer's line reads "Imp. Delamain, 8, r. Git-le-Cœur, Paris." No artist or engraver is named.
The source is Voyage en Asie et en Afrique by MM. Eyriès and Alfred Jacobs, a volume of the Histoire générale des voyages by Dumont d'Urville, d'Orbigny, Eyriès and A. Jacobs. It was published in Paris by Furne et Cie, éditeurs, 45 rue Saint-André-des-Arts, and its title page is dated M DCCC LIX (1859). Like the other plates in the book, this one is a steel engraving with a French caption.
Timbuktu had long been a destination of European curiosity, and an early printed view of the city is an attractive subject for a collection on West Africa or the Sahara.
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.
