HORN AFRICA EAST AFRICA 1764 TIRION UNUSUAL ANTIQUE ORIGINAL COOPER ENGRAVED MAP

Carta Geografica dell'Etiopia o Abissinia.

Description: Striking and highly detailed fine unusual 1764 Isaac Tirion's copper engraved map of the northeastern Africa, from Mediterranean Sea to Somalia. Covers also Arabian Peninsula and part of Europe.  The map notes cities, towns, rivers, lakes, deserts, the course of Nile river, Red &  Mediterranean Seas, reliefs, bays and islands. A rococo title cartouche and three mileage scales complete the map.
 
The map was published in Venice by Giambattista Albrizzi in the tenth volume of " Lo Stato presente di tutti i Paesi e Popoli del Mondo naturale, politico, e morale" (The Present State of All the Countries and Peoples of the Natural, Political and Moral World), dedicated to part of the Empire and to the ten Provinces of the Austrian and French Netherlands. The map derives from the one published in Amsterdam by Isaak Tirion.

Source: Thomas Salmon. Lo stato presente di tutti i paesi e popoli del mondo naturale, politico, e morale con nuove osservazioni, e correzioni degli antichi e moderni viaggiatori. Venezia, Giovambattista Albrizzi, 1731-1766.

The work – in twenty-seven volumes – whose original title was "Modern history, or the present state of all nations," was translated from English and printed in Venice by Albrizzi over several years and traces a historical analysis of the nations of the world enriched by the geographical and artistic description of cities and include copper engravings depicting the territories, general views and the monuments.

Date: 1764 ( undated )

Dimension: Paper size approx.: cm 50,1 x 37,8

Condition: Very strong and dark impression on good paper. Paper with chains and wiremarks. Map uncolored. Small foxing. Lateral left margin partially missing. Tear at the central right side repaired on the reverse. Map folded. Conditions are as you can see in the images.

Mapmakers: Isaak Tirion (1705 - 1765) was a Dutch publisher in Amsterdam. Born in Utrecht, Tirion quickly rose to prominence by publishing pamphlets, historical works, and most importantly, maps and atlases. He produced several atlases and Dutch town plans. His maps are mainly based on those of Guillaume de l'Isle. Tirion eventually relocated his printing house to the prestigious Kalverstraat. In his long career, he produced eight atlases in multiple editions, some of which were published posthumously until about 1784.

Writer: Thomas Salmon (1679–1767) was an English historical and geographical writer. Born at Meppershall in Bedfordshire, and baptised there on 2 February 1679, was son of Thomas Salmon, by his wife Katherine, daughter of John Bradshaw; Nathanael Salmon was his elder brother. William Cole wrote that he wrote much of his work in Cambridge, where he ran a coffee house, and then moved to London. He told Cole that he had spent time at sea, and in both the East and West Indies for some time. He also travelled in Europe. In 1739–40 Salmon accompanied George Anson on his voyage round the world. He died on 20 January 1767.

Publisher: Giambattista Albrizzi (1698 - 1777), a.k.a. Giovanni Battista Albrizzi, was an Italian publisher and journalist active in Venice during the mid-18th century. Albrizzi was the scion of a well-established Venetian publishing dynasty and followed in the footsteps of his father, Girolamo Albrizzi, who founded the family printing business and is known for publishing the work the great Venetian cartography Vincenzo Coronelli. Giambattista Albrizzi is generally considered to be the most prominent 18th century Venetian publisher. Today he is best known for his friendship and collaboration with Giovanni Battista Piazzeta (1683 - 1754), a well know Venetian artist and engraver, whose drawings and engravings appear in many of Albrizzi's publications, including his maps. Giambattista Albrizzi's cartographic work, while not particularly innovative in terms of content, often featured elaborate decorative elements designed by Piazzeta. Through the integration of such decorative elements, Albrizzi hopped to revive the reputation of Venetian publishing, which since the late 17th century, had fallen in regard since the days of Girolamo. His work helped lay the foundations for Italian school decorative cartography in the late 18th and early 19th century, including the work of Antonio Zatta, among others. In addition to Albrizzi's work as a map and book publisher, he also issued a weekly journal, Novelle della Repubblica delle Lettere, a kind of early newspaper that played an important role in Venetian business and intellectual life.