VIEWS OF INTERESTING PLACES IN THE HOLY LAND: WITH A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THEM IN THE SACRED SCRIPTURES, AND OF THEIR MODERN APPEARANCE AND SITUATION.

Issued by the American Sunday School Union, this handsome production contains some very early American lithographs by Augustus Köllner after the original sketches by Ludwig Mayer. The text, adapted from the work of E.F.C. Rosenmueller, provides historical explanations of the various scenes, with accompanying biblical references. Köllner, born in Dusseldorf in 1813, was an artist and prolific lithographer, who studied lithography in Frankfurt before emigrating to the United States and settling in Philadelphia. There are eight lightly toned scenic views of "Bethesda," "The Valley of Jehoshaphat," "The Brook Kedron," "The Mount of Olives," "Mount Tabor," "Nazareth," "Sea of Tiberias," and "Bethany." The superb picturesque views also feature details of everyday life in the region, the figures giving a sense of scale to the landscape, travellers on horse-back pass along the bank of the Brook Kedron, and two foreign soldiers on leave relax on the shores of the Sea of Tiberias. This book is notable both as an example of early American lithography, and as an early American work about the Holy Land. 43pp. plus eight lithographic plates. Contemporary half roan and marbled boards. Rubbed, worn at extremities. Scattered foxing throughout; light dampstaining to plates, primarily affecting margins; moderate age-toning. About very good.…