The True Description of Cairo

In 1549 a magnificent and detailed aerial view of Cairo was published in Venice with a descriptive Latin text; this remained the standard western image of Cairo for 250 years. Nicholas Warner explores the context, and provides a commentary on both the image and the accompanying narrative. The set includes an enhanced facsimile of the map itself.

---

In 1549 a Venetian printmaker, Matteo Pagano, published a large woodblock print of an aerial view of the city of Cairo; it was accompanied by a Latin text ('Descriptio Alcahirae') attributed to the orientalist scholar, Guillaume Postel. The depiction of the city is sufficiently accurate to permit a detailed interpretation of the city to be made, and it remained the standard western representation of this fabled eastern city for the next 250 years.

Nicholas Warner provides a context for Pagano's view of Cairo, a translation of Postel's text, and a commentary on the contents of the print itself in addition to the accompanying narrative. An index of subsequent revisions, and a superbly produced enhanced facsimile of the view itself is included.

Volume 1 (208 pages) includes 36 large colour plates, 5 black-and-white plates, and a modern facsimile of the original Latin text 'Descriptio Alchiriae'
Volume 2 (208 pages) includes a modern facsimile of the original Latin text 'Descripto Alcahirae', and 68 black-and-white images, all details of the view
Volume 3 - the view of Cairo - is a 'modern facsimile' of the original view i.e. with blemishes etc removed, packed in a slip case. It is the same size as the original, and folds out in a similar manner to an ordnance survey map. Printed in two colours to match the original.