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Details
NORDEN, Frederic Louis (1708-1742). Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie, Copenhagen: La Maison Royale des Orphelins, 1755. 2 volumes, 2° (450 x 302mm.). Volume one in eight parts with two general titles, engraved portrait, frontispiece and 19 engraved plates in the text, decorated initials, Volume II with 159 numbered and 5 unumbered engraved plates and maps. (Plate LXXXVI with laid down lettering strip, a few light scattered spots). Later half calf, spines gilt in compartments with two letteing pieces. (Rubbed with scuff marks). FIRST EDITION. Blackmer 1211; Brunet IV, 101.
"Norden was a captain in the Danish Navy and had studied drawing and engraving as part of his duties. He had spent nearly three years in Italy studying art when Christian VI of Denamrk ordered him to go to Egypt in 1737 on an exploratory mission where he made drawings on the spot. He spent about a year in Egypt and was the first European to penetrate as far as Derr in Nubia and to publish descriptions of any Nubian temples. This important work was the earliest attempt at an elaborate description of Egypt, and its plates are the most significant previous to those of Denon" (Blackmer, describing the first English edition of 1757). (2)
"Norden was a captain in the Danish Navy and had studied drawing and engraving as part of his duties. He had spent nearly three years in Italy studying art when Christian VI of Denamrk ordered him to go to Egypt in 1737 on an exploratory mission where he made drawings on the spot. He spent about a year in Egypt and was the first European to penetrate as far as Derr in Nubia and to publish descriptions of any Nubian temples. This important work was the earliest attempt at an elaborate description of Egypt, and its plates are the most significant previous to those of Denon" (Blackmer, describing the first English edition of 1757). (2)