Abyssinie
Abyssinie, an 1880 Paris travel book by Achille Raffray published by Plon, drawn from the Smithsonian Libraries collection and written as an account of Ethiopian landscapes and towns for a French general readership. The four wood-engraved plates show a mountain army crossing a viaduct over a deep gorge, the town of Adoua with its hilltop and domed building, a sacred cactus-like tree beside Lake Tana, and a tall stepped stone tower with carved window bands. A designer could draw on their tonal hatching, dramatic landscape framing, and dense foliage textures.
