Hierosolyma urbs sancta. Iudeae, totiusque orientis longe clarissima, qua amplitudine ac magnificentia hoc nostro aevo conspicua est. An engraved map of Jerusalem from the German edition of the Atlas "Civitates Orbis Terrarum" by Georg Braun and engraver Franz Hogenberg (Vol. II). [Köln, 1576]. Latin and German.
A bird's eye view map of Jerusalem from the east. The map is meant to serve as a realistic representation of the city (unlike imaginary maps that depict Jerusalem in the olden days), but follows some conventions that contradict this, such as depicting the southern front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre although generally portraying the city from the east. In the corner of the map appears a key for 48 sites in Jerusalem and its surroundings and on its upper part, a verse from the book of Ezekiel is printed (Latin): "This is Jerusalem, I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries are round about her". In the foreground, as in many other maps in this atlas, figures in local attire are shown.
An explanatory text about Jerusalem is printed on verso (German).
Engraving: 32.5X41.5 cm. (leaf: 39.5X52 cm). Good condition. Stains. A few creases. Pieces of paper glued to upper corners, on verso.
Literature: Jerusalem in Braun & Hogenberg Civitates, by Rehav Rubin. The Cartographic Journal, 1996. pp. 119-129.
Laor 1040A.

Travels of Ali Bey in Morocco, Tripoli, Cyprus, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, and Turkey, Between the Years 1803 and 1807, by Ali Bey. London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees,Orme and Brown, 1816. Two volumes. English. First English edition.
Description of the travels of the Spanish traveler Domingo Francisco Jorge Badía y Leblich in Africa and in the Middle East. Accompanied by 89 engraved plates: portrait of the author, four folding maps (a map depicting the route of his travels, map of Morocco, map of North Africa and a map of the Arab peninsula and the Red Sea), and 84 additional plates (some folding). The plates were bound, in both volumes, at the beginning, before the text. Two plates are missing.
Among the engravings: plans and drawings of views and various sites in Morocco, Tripoli, Cyprus, Alexandria, Mecca (folding plan of the town), Jerusalem (large folding plan of El-Aqsa mosque, and a plan of the interior of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre), Nazareth (Mount of Precipice), and more.
Domingo Francisco Jorge Badía y Leblich (1767-1818), born in Barcelona, stayed in Morocco between the years 1803-1805 pretending to be a Muslim, descendant of the Abbasid caliphs (for which purpose he adopted the name Ali Bey el-Abbasi). After leaving Morocco he made a pilgrimage to Mecca (stopping on his way in Tripoli, Cyprus and Egypt), and later on he visited Jerusalem, Syria and Constantinople. In Constantinople he aroused, for the first time, the suspicion that he is not Muslim and therefore had to terminate his tour and return to Spain. By pretending to be a Muslim Ali Bey succeeded in entering sites that were closed for non-Muslims, including Mecca, the Temple Mount and the Cave of the Patriarchs, and his descriptions of these sites are most probably among the first descriptions published for the European public at the time.
Vol. I: [1] engraved plate (author's portrait), XLII pp, [44] engraved plates, 339 pp. Two plates are missing. Vol II: [1] engraved plate (folding map), IX pp, [43] engraved plates, 373, [2] pp, 29 cm. Good-fair overall condition. Many stains on the leaves and plates. Blemishes and small tears to margins of leaves and some of the plates. Uncut sheets (at upper margins) in Vol II. New bindings and endpapers. Bookplate on the inside front binding of Volume I.