Two large maps of Palestine, with biblical and New Testament landmarks. Special edition of the map of the Palestine Exploration Fund (a map consisting of 26 parts first published in 1880). London, 1882. English.
1. Map of Western Palestine from Surveys Conducted for the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund... Special Edition Illustrating the Old Testament, the Apocrypha and Josephus. Printed for the committee of "Palestine Exploration Fund". London, 1882.
Approx. 94X159 cm (divided into 30 separate sections), linen-backed and folded into a booklet. Good overall condition. Slight stains and defects. Small tears at upper margins. Erased inscription on one of the top corners (affecting paper).
2. Map of Western Palestine from Surveys Conducted for the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund... Special Edition Illustrating the New Testament, also The Talmud and Josephus. Printed for the committee of the "Palestine Exploration Fund". London, 1882.
Approx. 159X94 cm (divided into 30 separate sections), linen-backed and folded into a booklet. Good overall condition. Slight stains and defects.
The two maps are placed together in a cardboard slipcase (slightly damaged).
Provenance: Collection of Hermann Meyer and his daughter Channah Sapir.

Postcard with a letter handwritten and signed by French archeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau, to the British engineer and archeologist Charles Wilson. Paris, 1893. French.
In his letter Clermont-Ganneau responds to an essay by Wilson on the Jordan River.
The French orientalist and archeologist Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau (1846-1923) was one of the prominent scholars of Palestine in the 19th century. Clermont-Ganneau arrived in Palestine in 1867 and worked as a translator at the French consulate in Jerusalem. During his stay in Jerusalem he studied and researched the archeological sites of Palestine, and with time gained a reputation as one of the important scholars of Biblical archeology in the country (among other things, for his contribution to the identification, research and restoration of the Mesha Stele). In the years 1873-1874 he headed the British archeological delegation to Palestine on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund, discovering the first three (out of thirteen) Gezer perimeter inscriptions (inscriptions carved into stone surfaces surrounding Tel Gezer). Later he took part in archeological excavations in Syria and the Red Sea, and in the years 1880-1882 served as the vice-consul in Jaffa. After completing his consular role he returned to Paris, where he studied Eastern languages.
The addressee, Charles Wilson (1836-1905) was a pioneer of modern Palestine studies and one of the leaders of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Wilson arrived in Palestine in 1863 at the head of a British team of engineers whose role it was to consult the Ottoman authorities regarding the improvement of sanitary conditions in Jerusalem. Wilson's first mission was the mapping of Jerusalem, following which he published a map that is considered the first modern map of Jerusalem. Later he was involved in mapping the area east of Mount Lebanon on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and took part in the survey of Sinai and in the research and preparation of a comprehensive, detailed map of Palestine (a project titled "From Dan to Beersheba" that produced 26 map sheets, accompanied by research volumes. Wilson edited the volumes on Jerusalem and the Sea of Galilee).
14X9 cm. Good condition. Creases and light stains.
Provenance: Collection of Hermann Meyer and his daughter Channah Sapir.

Plaque with a portrait of Theodor Herzl. Austria, apparently Vienna, ca. 1920s.
Silver (marked three times), embossed and engraved. Manufacturer's mark: FT.
"Herzl (Yiddish) / Dr. Herzl". Profile portrait of Herzl, on a round silver plaque, set in a green-golden frame surrounded by a thin silver frame. Padded on the back with light colored velvet.
Date of the plaque was determined according to the silver hallmarks. However, Vienna's Jewish Museum holds a Hanukkah Lamp in the base of which is set an identical medallion, dated 1900.
8X8 cm. Good condition. Some bends. Velvet on the back is worn. Loops on the back, torn.

Profile portrait of Theodor Herzl - soft ground (vernis mou) engraving by Hermann Struck, 1903. Signed and dated in the plate and hand-signed in pencil by both Struck and Herzl.
This portrait (titled originally "Bildnis Theodor Herzl"; "Portrait of Theodor Herzl") was created following meetings between Struck and Herzl, which took place in Egypt and in Herzl's home in Vienna in 1903. A series of preliminary drawings created by Struck while at Herzl's house in Vienna served as the basis for this portrait. It is likely that Struck's motive for creating the portrait was his fervent Zionism and the admiration he felt for Herzl. During the sixth Zionist Congress in Basel in August 1903, the two met again and on this occasion Herzl beseeched Struck to allow him to sign a few of the first copies of the engraving.
The art critic Dr. Karl Schwarz, a noted researcher and the first general manager of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, described Herzl's image as depicted in this engraving: "Presumably, the artist aspired to create an idealistic image of one of the prophets of Israel, and in this task he succeeded. Theodor Herzl lives forever in our hearts in the portrait created by the artist Struck; this was the portrait of Herzl, with a capital T: the visionary absorbed in his vision, with his gaze looking towards the future." ("Hermann Struck, the Man and the Artist". Edited by Itzhak Mann. Tel-Aviv: Dvir, 1954, pp30-31).
After Herzl's death Struck created two additional engravings of his portrait, but it is the engraving offered here that is considered his most famous work and the apex of his oeuvre - and indeed the most important portrait of the father of the Jewish State. "Within a short period of time the engraving became so well known that it emerged as a symbol of Zionism, especially after the death of the charismatic leader in 1904. It was then that the portrait won the respect of all the Zionist circles. By the time the State of Israel was founded, this portrait of Theodor Herzl was considered the epitome of Zionism itself. It decorated the walls of every Zionist event, anywhere. ("Hermann Struck, Printmaking Artist.” Tefen Open Museum, 2007, page 38).
Approx. 49.5X39.5 cm. Fair condition. Struck's signature is faded. Dark paper. Stains and tears (slightly affecting the engraving). Long tear to upper part of the leaf, by the upper margins of the plate. Mounted on thin acid-free paper and attached at upper margins to a sheet of paper with five pieces of adhesive tape. Framed (break to glass).

Postcard with a dedication handwritten by Theodor Herzl. Sent from Vienna to Bad Nauheim, Germany, 1899.
An undivided postcard with a photograph of the Donnerbrunnen in Vienna. On front appears a dedication handwritten by Theodor Herzl: "die besten grüsse, lieben fräulein, von ihrem ergebenen Th Herzl" [German: best wishes, dear young lady, yours, T. Herzl], dated: July 14, 1899.
The postcard was sent to Ms. Helen Beer.
14X9 cm. Good condition. Slight stains and defects.