Middle East.- Ehrenberg (L.G.) and Eduard Rüppell. Arabia und das Nil-Land [with extensive manuscript annotations by Captain William Henry Shippard], engraved map with contemporary hand-colouring, extensive annotations throughout identifying additional locations not found on the printed map, as well as including routes taken by historical figures and explorers through the Najd region of Arabia, extended flap to upper centre left showing as far as Aleppo, rectangular slip covering the engraved trompe-l'oeil but now delineating numerous previously unrecorded locations and travellers' routes in pen and ink, sheet 810 x 935 mm (31 3/4 x 36 3/4 in), edged with black linen and mounted on linen support, handling creases, surface dirt and browning, signs of heavy use, small pin holes, unframed, Justus Perthes, 1835

Provenance:

Captain William Henry Shippard;

Then by descent to the present owners

⁂ A unique and historically important map documenting exploration of the Arabian Peninsula, with detailed mid-19th century manuscript additions listing historical explorations of the remote Najd region of Arabia, as well as outlining the most up to date knowledge on the Peninsula. Shippard's annotations identify numerous routes travelled and discussed by historical figures such as the Mamluk-era geographer Abulfeda (1273-1331), the Muslim Arab geographer Muhammed al-Idrisi (1100-1165), and the first recorded British traveller to enter the Najd region of Arabia, George Forster Sadleir (1789-1859), amongst others. Specific details, such as number of days taken and number of camels required, are included on some.

Up until the middle of the 20th century, geographical and topographical information on the vast central region of present-day Saudi Arabia, known as Najd, was particularly scarce. The present map contains an impressive survey of the region's historical exploration, with details and information compiled and presented in a unique and highly organised format, clearly intended by Shippard to form part of his great unfinished project, "The Museum of Mankind". The Museum, which Shippard went to great lengths to plan and establish was "intended to illustrate the History of Man by means of popular Lectures, aided and enforced by Scenery, Maps, Costumes, &c., adding every scenic attraction to the higher views of Instruction, and combining Art, History, Travels, and Geography."