8vo. v, 371 pp., frontispiece engraved plate, 6 engravings hors text, vignette on title page, original gilt decorated cloth, faded and soiled, index, from Bath Public Library with usual blindstamps and label verso front cover, otherwise copy clean inside and in very good condition, T. Nelson & Sons, London, 1866.

Synopsis

First edition appeared in 1865. Porter spent 10 years in Syria and travelled extensively. He had already produced Five Years in Damascus (1855), and had edited Handbook for Travellers in Syria and Palestine (1858), before writing this very popular description of the massive buildings to be found in Bashan and an account of his theory explaining their construction. Porter believed that the aboriginal inhabitants of the country, before its occupation by Jewish tribes, had constructed these buildings.
Bibliographic references:Blackmer 1334; Tobler P. 189 for first edition.