8vo. Volume I: x, [1 list of illustrations], 395 pp., engraved frontispiece, 4 plans of which 2 are folding, 3 engraved plates, 8 illustrations / Volume II: vi, [1 list of illustrations], 372 pp., 32 pp., of advertisements, 2 engraved plates, 1 large folding map coloured in outline, 12 illustrations, original blind stamped cloth, slightly rubbed & soiled, title gilt on spine, upper cover gilt, index, scattered foxing, endpapers soiled, small closed tear to folding map without any loss, marginal damp stain affecting first two leaves of volume 1, John Murray, London, first edition, 1855.

Synopsis

FIRST EDITION, a second edition with a revised title appeared in 1870. Josiah Leslie Porter 1823-1889, traveller and explorer. He lived in Damascus since 1849 for about ten years, as a missionary to the Jews by the board of missions of the Irish Presbyterian church. He travelled extensively through Syria, Palestine and Lebanon, acquiring excellent knowledge about the area. He published several books, and edited the famous Murray’s Handbook for Travellers in Syria and Palestine ( 1858). This is a lively and very interesting account of Porter’s life in Syria and his travels in the Holy Land. The plates are after his own drawings and from photographs taken by James Graham, and he also constructed the map, and the plan of Damascus. Bibliographic references: Blackmer 1333; Creswell 396; Rohricht 2407.