Belzoni, Giovanni Battista. Plate 24. “General View of the Ruins of the Great Temple at Carnak”

Giovanni Battista Belzoni. Plate 24.  “General View of the Ruins of the Great Temple at Carnak.”  From  Plates Illustrative of the Researches and Operations of G. Belzoni in Egypt and Nubia.  London: John Murray, 1822.  13 x 26 ½ (image).  Aquatint.  Full original hand color.  Left hand margin trimmed to image with small chip in into image at bottom.  With fold as issued reinforced with archival tape.  Light staining in bottom right hand margin.  Else fine condition.   A print from a rare publication issued to accompany Giovanni Belzoni’s Narrative, a popular work that described his experiences and discoveries in Egypt and Nubia.  Belzoni, a nearly six foot, seven inch red-head, was a pantomime player and strongman, as well as a hydraulic engineer.  He traveled to Cairo in 1816 in order to interest Mohammed Ali in a hydraulic lifting device that he had invented.  This venture being unsuccessful, Belzoni turned to the British Consul, Henry Salt, for possible employment.  Salt, who was