Lot 1013
1013
ARABIA -- NIEBUHR, C. Reize naar Arabië en andere omliggende landen. Amst., (etc.), 1776-80. 2 vols. viii, (6), 484, (2); (16), 455, (1) pp. W. engr. titles, 124 (all) fine maps, views & plates, many folding, and 1 large fold. route map of Jemen at end of vol. 1 w. some colouring. 4°. Cont. hcf. w. raised bands, green and orange labels. (Spine ends chipped, 1 label partly gone, joints partly split, corners bumped, endpapers gone, upper margin vol. 2 stained at the end, else a clean set with the plates in good condition).
First edition in Dutch. This important and lavishly illustrated work on the Arabian peninsula and adjacent countries resulted from Carsten Niebuhr's participation as a mathematician, surveyor, astronomer and naturalist on the Royal Danish Expedition to Arabia (1761-67). Vol. 2 has a chapter on Persepolis and an extremely important contribution on cuneiform writing which ultimately led to its decipherment. Before Niebuhr's publication, cuneiform inscriptions were often thought to be merely decorations and embellishments, and no accurate decipherments or translations had been made up to that point. Niebuhr demonstrated that the three trilingual inscriptions found at Persepolis were in fact three distinct forms of cuneiform writing to be read from left to right. - Tiele 795; Cat. NHSM, 258.€ 1200
result € 900
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