ALEXANDRIA EGYPT 1798 CASSAS UNUSUAL ANTIQUE ORIGINAL COPPER ENGRAVED CITY VIEW

Aléxandrie, nommée par les Arabes Êskandéryéh.
Plan général de la ville.

Description: Striking and highly detailed fine unusual copper engraved map featuring a bird's-eye plan of the city of Alexandria, Egypt. The map shows the city's distinctive layout in the late Ottoman period, located on the narrow strip of land connecting the mainland to the island of Pharos (the ancient Heptastadion).
 
The two ports: The "Port vieux" (Old Port) on the left and the "Port neuf" (New Port) on the center-right are clearly delineated.
 
Walls and desert: The ancient Arab fortified perimeter encloses the city, which at the time was significantly reduced compared to the splendor of Greco-Roman antiquity. The lower part and the surrounding area are dominated by desert, with the indication "Partie du Désert."
 
Orientation: In the lower left corner is a classic compass rose for nautical and cartographic orientation.
 
The work is based on drawings by the famous French artist, traveler and archaeologist Louis-François Cassas (1756–1827), made at the end of the 18th century (around 1799) for his monumental work "Voyage pittoresque de la Syrie, de la Phénicie, de la Palestine et de la Basse-Égypte"
 
Source: Louis-François Casas. Voyage pittoresque de la Syrie, de la Phénicie, de la Palestine et de la Basse Égypte. Paris, Imprimerie de la République, 1798-[1799].
 
Date: 1798 ( undated )

Dimension: Paper size approx.: cm 43,8 x 29,4

Condition: Very strong and dark impression on good paper. Map uncolored. Small foxing. Conditions are as you can see in the images. 

Mapmaker: Louis-François Cassas (June 3, 1756 – November 1, 1827) was a French landscape painter, sculptor, architect, archaeologist and antiquary born at Azay-le-Ferron, in the Indre Department of France. His father was an artisan in the office of the "Ponts et Chaussés", and Cassas followed him there as an apprentice draughtsman when he was only fifteen years old.