LEBANON Forest Ancient Cedar Trees - 1836 Antique Print Bartlett

Description: Print Specifics: Type of print: Intaglio, Steel engraving - Original antique printYear of printing: 1836 Artist - Publisher: W.H. Bartlett - Fisher, Son & Co, London, Paris Condition: 1 (1. Excellent - 2. Very good - 3. Good - 4. Fair). When I received this print, it was in a very poor shape, like the one (not included) from the same series, shown in the last photo (at a reduced scale). Dimensions: 8 x 10.5 inches, (20 x 26 cm) including blank margins (borders) around the image. Paper weight: 2 (1. Thick - 2. Heavier - 3. Medium heavy - 4. Slightly heavier - 5. Thin)Reverse side: BlankNote: 1. Green border around the print is a contrasting background on which the print was photographed. 2. The print detail is much sharper than the photo of the print. 3. The map (not included) shows the approximate location of the spot shown in the engraving. Original Narrative: These are some of the very ancient trees : on the large trunk to the left many tourists have left their names. One of the latest is that of De Lamartine, the poet and traveller, carved industriously in large letters. An Arab tribe sometimes live in the forest, and were here at the time of this visit : the Sheich is conspicuous among the standing figures : this tribe is very hospitable and attentive to strangers : the costume of the women is that of almost all the Christians in Mount Lebanon. Tradition asserts, and the people believe, that these aged trees are the remains of the forest that furnished timber for Solomon's temple, three thousand years ago : and every year, on Transfiguration-day, the Maronites, the Greeks, and the Armenians, celebrate a mass here, at the foot of a cedar , upon a homely altar of stone. It is certain that they were very ancient, even several hundred years ago : two centuries since, they were twentyfive in number ; Pococke, a century ago, found fifteen standing, and the sixteenth was recently blown down : Burckhardt, in 1800, counted eleven or twelve : there are now but seven, and these are of so prodigious a size, of an appearance so massive and imperishable, that it is easy to believe they actually existed in biblical times. "The oldest trees," observes Burckhardt, "are distinguished by having the foliage and small branches at the top only, and by four, five, and even seven trunks springing from one base. The branches and foliage of the others were lower, but I saw none whose leaves touched the ground, like those in Kew Gardens." The trunks of the old trees are covered with the names of travellers, and other persons who have visited them. The trunks of the oldest trees seemed to be quite dead; the wood is of a grey tint. The enormous tree to the left is the one that Maundrell says he measured, and found it twelve yards six inches in girth, and thirty-seven yards in the spread of its boughs : at above five or six yards from the ground, it was divided into five limbs, each of which was equal to a great tree. They are difficult of approach, and are surrounded with deep snow, which is not passable until the middle of summer, when it begins to melt away: the ground on which they stand is uneven, being covered with rock and stone, with a partial but luxuriant vegetation springing up in the interstices: their position, on the brow of the mountain, surrounded on every side by deep and solemn valleys, rocky and almost perpendicular descents, waterfalls and dreary dells,—has something sacred and awful in it: they seem as if placed in their splendid and perilous site, like centinels between time and eternity—the sad and deathless memorials of the days of the first temple, when God dwelt among his people, in the visible glory between the cherubim, and in the blessings of earth and heaven, the proofs of his love. " Martin2001 Satisfaction Guaranteed Policy! Any print purchased from me may be returned for any (or no) reason for a full refund including all postage. Internet seller since 1998.Five-star service.

Price: 23.8 USD

Location: Manassas, Virginia

End Time: 2025-01-11T20:28:03.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4.65 USD