Album of Thirty Very Attractive Original Watercolour Views of the Holy Land; Including: Two Watercolours from the Same Travel Showing Surghaya village in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains (Syria) and the Acropolis in Smyrna/Izmir (Turkey). March-May 1893.

Thirty original watercolours on paper, from ca. 8,5x17,5 cm (3 ¼ x 7 in) to ca. 8,5x12,5 cm (3 ¼ x 4 ¾ in), mounted within ink-drawn frames on the original white, greyish and greenish album leaves ca. 21x27,5 cm (8 ¼ x 11 in). All but one captioned and dated in period ink on the mounts. Period style brown half morocco album with gilt tooled spine and pebbled cloth boards, Several leaves with minor stains on the lower right blank corners of the mounts, not affecting the watercolours, otherwise a very good album of bright attractive watercolours.

Attractive album of bright watercolour views drawn by a British traveller to the Holy Land in the spring of 1893. Dated between March 4th – April 27th, 1893, the watercolours include two views of Jaffa (city waterfront and the house of Simon the Tanner where St. Peter stayed during his missionary voyages), a street in Lydda (Lod), a distant view of the Mizpah of Benjamin (often identified with the modern-day Tell en-Nasbeh, 8 miles north of Jerusalem), Jerusalem Gate in Ramleh (Ramla), four views of Jerusalem (Jaffa Gate, Tomb of David, Garden of Gethsemane, and hospital of the Knights of S. John), two views of Bethlehem (Church of the Nativity, Rachel’s Tomb), Mountain of the Temptation near Jericho (usually identified with Mount Quarantania near Jericho, West Bank), Jordan River, Dead Sea, St. George Greek Orthodox Monastery near Wadi Qelt, mosque at Mizpeh, the site of the Biblical Bethel, Mount Gerizim near Nablus (West Bank), ruins of ancient Samaria and Jezreel, views of Mary’s Well in Nazareth, the bay of Acre, a well in the Cana of Galilee, two views of the Sea of Galilee, and two views of Mount Hermon on Lebanese-Syrian border. Two last watercolours drawn in May 1893 depict a Syrian village of Surghaya in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, and a Greek Acropolis in Smyrna (Izmir, Turkey). Overall a beautiful collection giving a picturesque overview of some of the iconic sites of the Holy Land through the eyes of a 19th-century English traveller. Captions: Jaffa. The Holy Land. March 4th 1893; House of Simon the Tanner. Jaffa. March 4th 1893; Lydda. March 7th 1893; Mizpeh of Benjamin. March 8th 1893; Jerusalem Gate. Ramleh. March 8th 1893; Jaffa Gate. Jerusalem March 15th 1893; Church of the Nativity. Bethlehem. March 16th 1893; Rachel’s Tomb. Bethlehem. March 16th 1893; Tomb of David. Jerusalem. March 17th 1893; Mountain of the Temptation near Jericho. March 20th 1893; Fords of the Jordan. March 21st 1893; The Dead Sea. March 21st 1893; Greek Monastery. Brook Cherith. March 22nd 1893; Garden of Gethsemane. Jerusalem. April 4th 1893; Mosque at Mizpeh. April 7th 1893; Hospital of the Knights of S. John Jerusalem. April 11th 1893; Bethel. April 12th 1893; Mount Gerizim. April 14th 1893; Samaria. April 16th 1893; Jezreel. April 18th 1893; The Virgin’s Well. Nazareth. April 19th 1893; Bay of Acre. April 20th 1893; Well at Cana of Galilee. April 22nd 1893; Sea of Galilee. April 23rd 1893 (2 different views with the same title); Mount Hermon. April 24th 1893; Mount Hermon. From road to Damascus. April 27th 1893; Village of Surghaya. Anti-Lebanon. May 2nd 1893; The Acropolis. Smyrna. May 10th 1893; [Untitled view].