Description de l'Arabie, d'après les observations et recherches faites dans le pays même.

NIEBUHR, Carsten.

Edité par Copenhagen: Nicolaus Möller, 1773

A propos de cet article

First French edition and the second overall, translated from the German edition of the previous year, with fine engravings made after Baurenfeind (the artist on Niebuhr's expedition). The most arresting images include Baurenfeind's depiction of military exercises against the backdrop of a citadel and colour plates of Kufic calligraphy. Niebuhr was a conscientious and accurate observer, and his memoirs of his travels have long been considered one of the classic accounts of Arabia, his maps remaining in use for over 100 years. Reflecting the Enlightenment ideals of his expedition, his travelogue provides a detailed study of Arab culture, covering everything from dress and food to numismatics and poetry. The flora and fauna of the Arabian Peninsula are also discussed in some detail. In the second part, Niebuhr's survey of the provinces of Yemen provides a measured and informative account of the country's geography, politics and administration. Niebuhr studied mathematics at Göttingen, where he came to the attention of the renowned Biblical scholar Johann David Michaëlis (1717-1791). In 1756, he was invited to join the scientific expedition to Arabia that Michaëlis was organizing under the patronage of Frederick V of Denmark, and it was agreed that the king would sponsor Niebuhr to study cartography and astronomy at an advanced level. The expedition hoped to discover more about the geography, flora, fauna, and ethnography of Biblical Arabia. The party consisted of Niebuhr as surveyor, Friedrich Christian von Haven, a Danish linguist and orientalist, Peter Forrskål, a Linnaean naturalist, Christian Carl Kramer, a doctor and zoologist, Georg Baurenfeind, the expedition's artist, and Berggren, a Swedish ex-soldier. Niebuhr was the only one to return. From Istanbul, the party proceeded to Egypt and spent a year there, travelling up the Nile and visiting Suez and Mount Sinai. "Disguised as pilgrims … they left Suez in October 1762 for Jiddah, from where they advanced down the coast in.an open boat., making frequent landings as far as Al-Luhayyah in Northern Yemen" (Howgego). On their way to Mocha, members of the party contracted malaria, and on arrival von Haven died, swiftly followed by Forrskål. By late 1763 the members of the expedition were so ill that they were carried onto a vessel bound for Bombay. On the voyage Berggren and Baurenfeind died, followed by Kramer in early 1764, leaving Niebuhr as the only survivor. Continuing alone, he travelled westwards through Iran, Iraq and Syria to the Holy Land, before returning to Istanbul, eventually arriving in Copenhagen in 1767. Niebuhr first published his memoirs in Denmark, under the patronage of King Christian VII, to whom the book is dedicated, the cost of the plates being defrayed by the government. The work Beschreibung von Arabien (Description of Arabia), of which the present copy is a translation, is to be distinguished from Niebuhr's slightly later work, Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien (Description of a Voyage to Arabia), which was first published in Copenhagen in 1774, and was translated into French in 1776 as Voyage en Arabie (Voyage to Arabia). This copy bears the inscription of the Comte de Neuviller on the title. The county (comté) of Neuviller was created in 1749 by Stanislas I (1677-1766), the exiled king of Poland, who was given the Duchy of Lorraine by Louis XV. In 1751, the county was handed to Antoine-Martin de Chaumont de La Galaizière (1697-1783), who governed Lorraine for Stanislas on behalf of France. By 1773, when Description de l'Arabie was published, Chaumont de La Galaizière's son, Antoine (1727-1812) had succeeded his father as Seigneur of the County of Neuviller. By 1776, the county had been renamed Chaumont-sur-Moselle in honour of the family. Brunet IV 74; Cox I, pp. 237-8; Graesse IV, p. 674; Howgego I N24. Quarto (255 x 200mm). With 18 plates engraved by Defehrt and Martin, of which 3 folding and 2 coloured, 7 maps, of which 6 folding, together with gene.

N° de réf. du vendeur 164038

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Description de l'Arabie, d'après les observations et recherches faites dans le pays même.
• Éditeur: Copenhagen: Nicolaus Möller, 1773