A large map of Lower Egypt during the Anglo-Turkish War

ARROWSMITH, Aaron.

A Map of Lower Egypt from Various Surveys Communicated by Major Bryce and Other Officers. Drawn by Aaron Arrowmith Hydrographer to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. 1807.
London: Aaron Arrowmith, 1807. Original colour. Four sheets, dissected and laid on linen in four sections, as issued. Each 640 x 810mm, total if joined 1280 x 1620mm, folded into contemporary marbled slipcase.

Some slight ink offset.

A detailed map of Lower Egypt marking Alexandria, Rosetta, Damietta, Caio and Suez, with the course of the Nile south to the Pyramids of Dahsur. Top left is a plan of the Battle of the Nile (1798), with a key of ships and casualties.
The map was issued during the Anglo-Turkish War of 1807-1809, which was ignited by the shifting allegiances caused by Napoleonic Wars. Only two months before publication the British Army was forced to abandon their brief occupation of Alexandria.
Arrowmith acknowledges the information provided by British officers who had participated in Britain's previous campaign in Egypt (removing Napoleon's army from the country), including Major Alexander Bryce (1766-1832) of the Royal Engineers. Around the map are notes useful to the army: for example a road from Cairo towards Suez is marked ''The Road through this Desert is in general hard Gravel and Pebbles fit for Artillery and Carriages''.
Of interest is the depiction of Lake Mariout, which less than six years earlier had been a freshwater lake, fed by a canal from the Nile. In 1801 the British under General Abercrombie were besieging Napoleon's army in Alexandria: in April the Royal Engineers broke the dykes that separated Mariout from the salty Lake Abu Qir, in order to deprive the city of drinking water, flooding 150 villages. A new canal was only completed in 1820, but the lake remains brackish.

With bookplate of George Augustus Frederick Henry Bridgeman (1789-1865), 2nd Earl of Bradford.
Stock ID : 23999