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Book Details:
Rare book. Half vellum. Perfect copy. Beschryving van Arabie: XXXXI;408 pages ; 7 Bll. Engraved title; 24 (many folded) engravings and maps including the large map of Yemen. Includes the first map dedicated to Oman(! ) and the first detailed plan of Muscat (! ) as well as the first detailed map of the Persian Gulf. Half vellum binding with marbled boards. Some water-staining to the inner blank margin. In 1761, at the invitation of Frederick V, King of Denmark, Carsten Niebuhr (1733-1815) joined a Danish government-sponsored scientific expedition to explore the Arabian Peninsula, known as Arabia Felix. The five other members, who would die all during the expedition, were Peter Forrskal, a Swedish naturalist, Christian Kramer, a Danish physician and zoologist, George Baurenfeind, a German artist, Friedrich von Haven, a Danish linguist, and a former Swedish military man named Berggren. They disguised as Muslims, sailed on a ship carrying pilgrims to the Arabian port of Jidda. Niebuhr's account of his journey in Arabia and the Persian Gulf provided Europeans with the first comprehensive descriptions of the region; his map of Yemen was the first to detail scientifically and in detail that portion of the Arabian Peninsula. Most participants died due to diseases during the expedition |