An important map of early modern archaeology in Nineveh

JONES, James Felix.

Vestiges of Assyria. Sheet 1st, an Ichnographic Sketch of the remains of ancient Nineveh, with the enciente of the modern Mosul... constructed from the trigonometrical survey in the spring of 1852, at the command of the government of India, by Felix Jones, Commander, Indian Navy and Surveyor in Mesopotamia. Aided in the field operations by J.M. Hyslop, Esq.r M.D. Med.l Staff, Bombay Army.
London: John Walker, 1855. Original colour. Dissected and laid on linen, as issued, total 1275 x 735mm. With facsimile signature.

The first trigonometrical survey of the environs of the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh, with the Tigris River and the Iraqi city of Mosul. The walls of Nineveh are marked, with the two mounds, Kuyunjiq and Nabbi Yunus.
Of particular interest is the palace on Kuyunjiq, with the 'house of records': this is where Austen Henry Layard had recently found the 'Library of Ashurbanipal', a collection of over 30,000 clay tablets now in the British Museum, including the 'Epic of Gilgamesh'.
The map is surrounded by a border with Assyrian motifs, and has Cuneiform, Arabic and Greek script.
Commander James Felix Jones (1813-78), had served with Robert Moresby charting the northern part of the Red Sea, 1829-34. In 1844 he and Henry Rawlinson (to whom this map is dedicated) were sent to help resolve a border dispute between Persia and Turkey. In 1852 he executed a trigonometrical survey of the ancient cities of Nimrud and Nineveh, and the Assyrian plain between the Tigris and Jebel Maglub, after which three maps were published by John Walker for the East India Company.


Stock ID : 22248