Norden, Frederick Louis

Norden, Frederick Louis a noted Danish traveler, was born at Glickstadt, in Schleswig-Holstein, in 1708. He was educated for the army, and for a time figured in its service.

He excelled in mathematics, and particularly in correct drawing, on which account he was employed by the Danish king in traveling, and in examining the construction of ships. He visited, as a philosopher and a man of science, the first countries in Europe; and having passed into and explored Egypt, he published, on his return to Denmark, an account of his travels in Egypt and Nubia, which is interesting, correct, and accurate. It is written in French, and entitled Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie (Copenh. 1752,1755,2 vols. fol.). The first volume consists entirely of plates, being a series of maps of the course of the Nile from Cairo to Derr, and a succession of views of the scenery along the banks of the river, forming a kind of panorama of the Nile; besides plans and sections of the pyramids, temples, and other remarkable buildings. The second volume contains Norden's journal, which is written in a plain. unpretending style. The editors have added a biographical notice of the author. Norden was the first traveler who explored Egypt as an artist, and his drawings gave the first tolerably correct idea of the stupendous monuments of that country. His work was translated into English, and published, enlarged by Dr. Peter Templeman, in London (1757), in 2 vols. fol. Langles published a new and corrected edition of the original French (in 3 vols. 4to) at Paris in 1795-98.