4to. 148 pp., xii, contemporary full calf, edges rubbed, rebacked with new spine, folding map is missing, dampness on margins without affecting text, book plate of George Grote verso front cover, Imprimerie Royale, Paris, 1779.

Synopsis

Jean d’Anville (1697-1782) developed a fascination for geography as a child and his precocious talent was honoured when, at the age of twenty-two, he was appointed Royal Geographer to the King of France. Author of 211 maps and plans, his skill as a map maker was greatly appreciated by geographers and explorers alike; and this recognition is all the more remarkable when we realise that many of his maps were based on the study of other men’s work rather than on his own surveys. Such is the case on his famous map on Arabia, printed in 1751(referred to by Tibbetts as the first really modern map of Arabia) and included in this book. Drawing from earlier sources, both classical and near contemporary, d’Anville describes the geography of Egypt, the Red Sea, and the Hijaz, making particular use of the work of the English explorer Richard Pococke, the Danish explorer Frederick Norden, and Pére Sicard. Later, Carsten Niebuhr, the most famous of the 18th century explorers of the Arabian Peninsula, was to draw from and greatly extend d’Anville’s work.
Bibliographic references: Brunet I, 339. OCLC 558160044.