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Elio Christoph Brancaforte. Visions of Persia: Mapping the Travels of Adam Olearius. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2003. xxiv + 238 pp. + 66 illustrations. $45.00 Cloth, $27.50 Paper.
In the introduction to his study of the works of the German traveler and cartographer Adam Olearius, Elio Brancaforte promises to examine "how aspects of Safavid Persia are portrayed in Adam Olearius' visual and narrative work and how he creates a representation of the land for a Western audience" (xxi). It would be more accurate, however, to say that the author is interested in Olearius as a producer of visual imagery whose work demonstrates the interanimating dynamics of word and image, particularly in regards to the frontispiece and the map. This is a book of greater interest to those interested in the history of the book and the map than to scholars of Renaissance travel, ethnography, and Safavid Persia. That Olearius' voluminous work contributed to a more complete understanding of Persia in terms of its land and peoples is certainly demonstrated, yet the heart of this book lies instead in clearly delineated readings of the apparatuses framing Olearius' books.
Olearius is best known for his Vermehrte Newe Beschreibung der Muscowitischen und Perskhen Reyse (The Expanded, New Description of the Muscovite and Persian Journey), an 800-folio page ethnography/traveler's account that contains 120 engravings and features information on geography, biology, linguistics, history, and natural history. Brancaforte describes the text as containing a "Baroque excess of information," though his interest in the visual elements of Olearius' work tends to eclipse the text's narrative elements (17). What we leam a great deal about are the numerous illustrations,...