• Title : Masulipatam
• Date : 1732
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
• Ref:  25904
• Size: 15in x 10in (380mm x 255mm)

Description: 
This fine beautifully hand coloured original antique print a view of the city of Masulipatam (Machilipatnam) on the Malibar Coast in India was published in the 1732 second English edition of Philip Baldaeus "A True and Exact Description of the Most Celebrated East-India Coasts of Malabar and Coromandel; and also of the Isle of Ceylon… London: Awnsham and John Churchill, 1732.

Machilipatnam is a city and the district headquarters of Krishna district, located in Coastal Andhra region of Andhra Pradesh, India. During British rule, the city was their first trading settlement on the Bay of Bengal coast, when it was also known as Masulipatnam or Masula, and as Bandar in folklore, located 72 km to the east of the state capital Vijayawada.

Second edition in English of Baldaeus’ account of his 17th-century travels in south India and Ceylon—one of the first Europeans to publish at length about the region published with 37 copper-engraved views and maps. Father Philippus Baldaeus, Baelde or Philip Balde (October 1632, Delft – 1672, Geervliet) was a Dutch minister. He went to Jaffna, Ceylon with an invading Dutch force during 17th Century. As the first European he documented the life, language and culture of Tamil people, living in the north of the island. It is a great historical record, similar to Mahawamsa, and it was immediately published in Dutch and German (with several beautiful pictures).

Baldaeus had a Flemish origin. His ancestors had left Ypres in 1584. Baldaeus lost both his parents, when he was four years old. His uncle Robertus Junius was a missionary on Dutch Formosa. After studying Oriental languages in Groningen (1649) and theology in Leiden (1650), and discussions with Arnoldus Montanus, he preached from 1655 at Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Jaffanapatnam and Point de Galle, either in Dutch or Portuguese (language). From 1657 he served under Rijklof van Goens, occupying the Coromandel and Negapatnam in 1658. Cornelis Speelman became its first governor. By 1660 the Dutch controlled the whole island except the kingdom of Kandy. When the Dutch occupied the coast of Malabar in 1661, Baldaeus took part. Around 1662 he returned to Ceylon and Baldaeus learned Sanskrit and studied Hinduism.

In 1666 he returned to the Dutch Republic and preached in Geervliet from 1669 until his death at the age of 39 or 40. He left behind a full and faithful account of the civil, religious, and domestic condition of the countries through which he travelled. In this, he introduced also an interesting account of the Hindu mythology, and some specimens of the Tamil language, including the translation of the Lord's Prayer: defective enough it is true, but remarkable as the first treatise, printed in Europe, on any Indian language. The title of the whole work is Description of the East Indian Countries of Malabar, Coromandel, Ceylon, etc. (in Dutch, 1671) The book is dedicated to the bailiff Cornelis de Witt. (Ref: M&B; Tooley)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy & stable
Paper color: - White
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Blue, green,
General color appearance: - Fresh
Paper size: - 15in x 10in (380mm x 255mm)
Plate size: - 14in x 9 1/2in (360mm x 240mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - Folds as issued
Verso: - None