The city of the great King, Jerusalem & environs. Published by M. W. Shapira [Moses Wilhelm Shapira], Jerusalem, [second half of 19th century].
Album of prints, souvenir for tourists, produced by Moses Wilhelm Shapira, antiquities collector and dealer who lived in Jerusalem in the second half of the 19th century and became known as a forger of antiquities.
The album opens with a folded sheet with 15 prints (chromolithographs) depicting views and sites in Palestine: Panorama of Jerusalem (consisting of four prints), Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Dome of the Rock, Western Wall, Mount of Olives, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jaffa and more. Each print is titled, in English and French (in golden ink); bound at the end of the album are leaves with descriptions of the towns and sites depicted in the prints (in English, French and German), and a folding sheet with a printed map of Jerusalem, a plan of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and a map of the areas adjacent to Jerusalem.
Folded sheet (prints: 12X7 cm), 26 pp + [1] plate (maps). Album: approx. 15X10 cm. Fine red binding with gilt title and decorations. Good condition. Slight stains