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.

1. Map of Western Palestine in 26 sheets from surveys conducted for the committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund by Lieuts. C. R. Conder and H. H. Kitchener, R. E. during the Years 1872-1877. Printed by the Ordnance Survey Office, London, 1880. English.
Map of Palestine, from Tyre to Beer Sheba, large scale (1:63,360), consisting of 26 separate sheets. The shoreline, large settlements and streams are colored by hand.
26 plates, [1] title page and [1] legend. 68.5X58.5 cm. Fair-good overall condition. Tears and open tears, repaired. Wear and stains. Each plate is inserted in a transparent plastic cover, sealed. The plates are inserted in a cloth-covered cardboard case (new; lacking the original folder).
2. The Survey of Western Palestine, Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography and Archaeology, by Lieut. C. R. Conder, R. E., and Lieut. H. h. Kitchener, R. E. Published by The Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, London, 1881-1883. Three volumes. English.
A book describing in great detail the aforementioned map and adding much information about it. The chapters correspond to the map sheets and each chapter tells about the area of the country presented in the map. The books are accompanied by numerous plates.
Vol I: X, 420 pp + [3] plates. Vol II: VII, [1], 445 pp + [23] plates, Vol. III: VII, [1], 450 pp + [21] plates. 28 cm. Good condition. Many stains. Sheets uncut at upper edges. Some tears. Original bindings, defected and worn, restored (professional restorations at spines and at the connection of the endpapers to body of books).

"Tzurat HaBayit" / "Mapat Eretz Israel uGvuloteha", a plate from "Kuntress Tzurat HaBayit" in the Bible edition printed in Livorno by A.Y. Castillo and E. Sa'adon [Livorno, ca.1782].
A plan of the Temple interior ("Tzurat HaBayit") is printed on the right, with a legend describing the places marked on the plan ("Maftechot…"). On the left side of the plate are two maps - "Future Division of Eretz Israel" and "Division of Eretz Israel and its borders" (schematic map of Palestine with the Tribal territories). An additional legend is printed below the two maps - "For knowing the borders and the tribal territories" (Hebrew).
Leaf: 54.5X41 cm. Fair-good condition. Folding marks. Stains. Restored defects and tears at margins. Margins were cut unevenly, at the edge of the print, and were enlarged by an addition of a paper frame (professional restoration).
See Laor 877.

Sinai Photographed, or Contemporary Records of Israel in the Wilderness, by Charles Forster. London: Richard Bentley, 1862. English.
A study seeking to prove the veracity of the Exodus story according to numerous Nabatean inscriptions found in the Sinai Desert. The inscriptions were documented by French scholar Lottin de Laval during his voyage in the Sinai Desert and some were published in his book, Voyage dans la péninsule arabique du Sinai et l’Egypt moyenne (1855-1859). The author of the present study, Forster, focused on the inscriptions that, according to him, were written by the Israelites, and presented translations of these inscriptions that accord with the story of the Exodus as told in the Bible. Later scholars proved that Forster allowed himself much poetic license in their translation, and even drew farfetched conclusions without a sound basis.
The book contains 18 photographs of the castings that document the inscriptions (taken by photographer A. J. Brown), mounted on plates; a photographed portrait of the author; four lithographic plates of Sinai views; numerous reconstructions of inscriptions (according to castings prepared by Victor Lottin de Laval); the map of the Israelites journeys in the desert ("Transitus Israelitarum per Mare Rubrum"), after the book by Peter Goldschmidt (ca. 1711); and a facsimile of a letter received by the author from the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Howley.
XX, 352 pp + [1] plate with a portrait of the author + [18] photograph plates + [4] lithographic plates + [1] map + [1] engraving + [1] letter facsimile, 33.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Some tears, most repaired with adhesive tape. Good condition. Foxing. Non-original endpapers. Slight defects to binding.