Henry Salt (1780-1827)

Salt visited the Cape, India, and the Red Sea. In Calcutta, the party was entertained by the Governor-General, Marquis Wellesley (the dedicatee of the present work) and then travelled to Benares, Lucknow, Ceylon and Madras. Salt then explored the Red Sea, returned to Bombay and Poona, to the Red Sea again, before making an extensive excursion into the Abyssinian highlands, here represented by six views. Contemporary advertisements make clear that the work was designed to be similar in size and presentation to the plates of Thomas and William Daniell's great work, Oriental Scenery (1795-1808): the undoubted artistry of Salt and his engravers have ensured that this work is a worthy successor.