Description de l'Arabie, faite sur des observations propres et des avis recueillis dans les lieux memes,

Bookseller Notes

The second French edition (first Copenhagen 1773) of this important and richly illustrated account of the Middle East by Danish astronomer and naturalist Carsten Niebuhr (1733-1815). The material was gathered on the ill-fated Danish expedition to Arabia - Den Arabiske Rejse - from which Niebuhr returned as the sole survivor. The expedition, sponsored by King Frederick V, saw six scientists depart from Copenhagen in January 1761 with the aim of mapping the lands of the Old Testament and recording the topography of Arabia. All but Niebur died. He stayed in Bombay for fourteen months before returning home by way of Muscat, Bushire, Shiraz, and Persepolis (his copies of the cuneiform inscriptions at Persepolis proved essential to its decipherment). He also visited the ruins of Babylon, Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, and Aleppo. After a visit to Cyprus, he made a tour through Palestine, crossed the Taurus Mountains to Bursa, reached Constantinople in February 1767, and finally arrived in Copenhagen the following November.He was an instant celebrity, and his account - first published in German in 1772 - was a huge success. It is a work of considerable scholarship and cartographical importance, particularly as it relates to south-western Arabia. In addition to the maps, and inscriptions, the plates feature plans and views of buildings, including the mosques of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. On the latter, the tomb of Muhammad is delicately hand coloured.