The Antiquities, Natural History, Ruins and other Curiosities

The antiquities, natural history, ruins and other curiosities of Egypt, Nubia and Thebes, exemplified in near two hundred drawings taken on the spot by Frederic Lewis Norden, member of the Royal Societies of London, Paris and Copenhagen, and commander of a vessel sent by the King of Denmark to collect materials towards explaining the history of those counties, Martin Teuscher.

A Danish explorer and naval captain, Norden, at the bequest of the King of Denmark made a celebrated voyage through Egypt to Sudan in 1737–1738. On the way he made abundant and scrupulous notes, observations and drawings of everything around him, including people, pharaonic monuments, architecture, landscapes and natural history. On his return, he became a fellow of the Royal Society in London, but died of tuberculosis before his works could be published.

Printed for Lockyer Davis. London, 1780.

  • On their posthumous publication, The Antiquities, with its 164 wonderfully detailed and realistic plates, engraved by Mark Teuscher, caused a sensation in Europe, opening the veil on a land still then shrouded in myth and hearsay. The work remains to this day a valued primary source on the appearance of Egyptian monuments before the widespread excavations and tourism of the 19th and 20th centuries - including the first ever depiction of The Great Sphinx missing its nose.


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