When European travellers and writers came to Ethiopia before the age of photography, the made engravings of what they saw. Richard Pankhurst and Leila Ingrams collected these engravings, from 1540 to 1900, and published them in "Ethiopia Engraved: An Illustrated Catalogue of Engravings by Foreign Travellers from 1681 to 1900" (1988). The period following this time period also has a collection, "Ethiopia Photographed".

This book is divided into sections of location (Aksumite Origins and Christian Churches; Gondar; Adwa, Dabra Tabor and Other Towns of the North and North-West; Shawa and its Towns; Harar; Massawa and the Gulf of Aden Ports; Eritrea) people (Tewodros; Yohannes; Menilek and Taytu) and some categories (Scenery of the North; Wildlife of Ethiopia; the Travellers and the Artists; Ethnography, Geography and History; Birds, Butterflies, Fauna, Fish, Flora and Reptiles). The book provides glimpses into the past. It also highlights how engravings are also artistic renditions, in this case of European views of Ethiopia. Romanticized and idealized or exaggerated. In other cases, the engravings look much like things can see today, such a scenery portraits and buildings.

An excellent collection for those interested in Ethiopian history.