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Henry Salt's scarce engraved map of Absynnia, present-day Ethiopia. One of the most authoritative early maps of the region.
Salt, the son of a physician, was born in Lichfield on 14 June 1780. He trained as a portrait painter, first in Lichfield and then in London under Joseph Farington and John Hoppner. In 1802 he was appointed secretary and draughtsman to George Annesley, Viscount Valentia. They started on an eastern tour, traveling on the British East India Company's extra (chartered) ship Minerva to India via the Cape Colony. Salt explored the Red Sea area and, in 1805, visited the Ethiopian highlands. He returned to England on 26 October 1806. Salt's paintings from the trip were used to Valentia's Voyages and Travels to India, published in 1809. The originals of all the drawings were kept by Valentia, as were the copper plates after Salt's death. The format and style of the plates is similar to Thomas and William Daniell's work, "Oriental Scenery" (1795-1808).
Salt returned to Ethiopia in 1809 on a government mission to explore trade and diplomatic links with the Tigrayan warlord Ras Wolde Selassie. On his return he published A voyage to Abyssinia, and travels into the interior of that country, executed under the orders of the British government in the years 1809 & 1810, and a collection of drawings entitled Twenty-four Views Taken in St Helena, The Cape, India, Ceylon, Abyssinia and Egypt. He later returned and continued a friendship with the Ethiopian warlord Sabagadis.
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