Strange Beasts etc. In 1682 Ethiopia.

[mawnansmiff]

Last week I won at auction a book about the history of Ethiopia printed in 1682. I've only briefly browsed the text but it's the illustrations I thought I would share with you guys. Some of them have to be seen to be believed!

I think the artist might well have never seen what he is trying to depict and is perhaps working purely on secondhand witness evidence.

A couple of interesting facts I have learned already, I never knew Ethiopia was once known as the 'Empire of Prester John' or that bananas were once known as 'Indian figs'!

Here is the title page...



Here are the Indian figs I mentioned...




And these bizarre looking creatures are 'river horses' aka hippopotami, check out those teeth...




These have to be the strangest looking elephants I ever saw...




These are apes, not sure what the ape in the background is throwing at the lion...pepper?...



Strange looking marmosets also abound here...



And here are the friendly natives giving a typical welcome to some Samaritans...



This marble coffin was 'digged up'...



Hope you all enjoyed this little foray into the ancient past

Regards,

Jay.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Quite a collection! (And see you've solved the image problems!)

Some of the drawings must have been done by an artist going off the verbal description of the animals. Perhaps third or fourth hand!

 

[hawky454]

Those are some really neat illustrations. Thanks for sharing!

 

[TheIronMonkey]

That's an amazing group of illustrations. Thanks for sharing and congratulations on winning the auction.

 

[mawnansmiff]

"Quite a collection! (And see you've solved the image problems!)"

John, it was when I tried to create this very thread yesterday that I realised something was wrong. Thankfully now sorted.

Yes, certainly not first hand images. Whatever they are, these were likely some of the earliest images of these creatures that westerners ever got to see and who were they to argue?

Regards,

Jay.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Chinoiserie... I had to co-teach a class in this when I was at UA. It was a part of an Asian Aesthetics Unit. Look at how the Chinese depict dogs, or how African masks depict dogs. That is how they see/saw them, because of cultural filters. There is no one true reality. Cultures have different filters, and even within cultures there are different ways of seeing the world. Even in our own Western Art, held up next to photographs, even we distort realities. Even today. Even photography is a distortion.

In these depictions, we are seeing when two cultures collide. I can go on and on, but if someone is interested just do a search for Chinoiserie.

 

[kcghost]

When you see a hippo in the water after something you will think they have a bunch of teeth even though they don't. Most dangerous animal in Africa.

 

[Ahi Ka]

I vote the monkeys are throwing poop at the lion.

 

[fireground_piper]

I vote the monkeys are throwing poop at the lion.

Feces is always the correct answer for “what is the monkey throwing at….?”

 

[workman]

Great buy, man. Those illustrations are funny, but I'm actually surprised that it's fairly obvious what they are depicting. They are way better than what the medieval monks were putting out 3-400 years earlier.
The Prester John myth was really important. They kept believing it for hundreds of years. Not only in England and not only about Ethiopia. Emissaries from Byzanthium went looking for Prester John in China and ran in to Gengis Khan instead, poor bastards.

 

[shanez]

Even photography is a distortion.

You should see online dating.

 

[Hillcrest]

You should see online dating.

Photography was a distortion in the 60-70's per a professional fashion photographer I met. Now with photoshop everyone can lie. He told me that you would never recognize the original person on the street after they got through with the photo. Magazines do not depict real people but creations. It all has to do with the underlying bone structure...the rest they can manipulate. Like the Whopper or Big Mac !

 

[renfield]

Thanks for sharing, awesome stuff. I really enjoy seeing these old books.

 

[mawnansmiff]

"The Prester John myth was really important."

Workman, I had to look up Prester John once I had the book, quite a fascinating story behind him and his many myths.

Regards,

Jay.

 

[Grangerous]

Great find! Thanks for sharing.

Reading period literature, along with an historical perspective—we are thrust into our past. One can imagine a reader staring at those pictures in wonder. What a time of adventure! Time spent in field and flood required fortitude and courage, moxi and self reliance. A sense of fearless determination, valor, strength and audaciousness. The tobacco for such a man would surely have been... Cherry Vanilla Cavendish.

Prestor John—himself, a self-proclaimed Latakia lover, most always kept a tin or two of Presbyterian in his robes, along with a period copper Zippo with a suggestive depiction of a damsel in an uncompromising position on the obverse, which had been gifted to him on holiday in Constantinople.

 

[pappymac]

Photography was a distortion in the 60-70's per a professional fashion photographer I met. Now with photoshop everyone can lie. He told me that you would never recognize the original person on the street after they got through with the photo. Magazines do not depict real people but creations. It all has to do with the underlying bone structure...the rest they can manipulate. Like the Whopper or Big Mac !

The camera never lies but the person behind the camera and at the keyboard do.

Actually this book reminds me of the Indian parable about blind men describing an elephant.

 

[mikethompson]

Some of the drawings must have been done by an artist going off the verbal description of the animals

Albrect Drurer's depiction of a rhino comes to mind. For years and years Germans thought this was what one looked like, simply because this image was so well known.



Very nice addition to your collection Jay!

 

[Laurent]

Nice find! I love reading and seeing historical books and illustrations.

 

[Egg Shen]

If your book is from 1682 any thoughts on why is it written in English? Does it list the author and artist? How many pages is it? Also what sort of English diction is being used? I thought maybe Middle English or something but “digged up“ threw me. I wonder if it talks about when Ethiopians first started cultivating and drinking the coffee that grows wild there. Also isn’t the supposed location of The Ark of the Covenant in a church in Ethiopia that no one is allowed to enter? It will be interesting to see what topics it broaches as you share more. Thanks for taking the time.

*edit- I initially missed the 1st page so I see it shows the author and a London print. Gonna have to google Job Ludophus and see why and to what extent the Brits were there in 1682...

 

[scloyd]

I always enjoy your posts of old books. Thanks for posting.