Oblong 4to. 20 pp., / 19 pp., / 18 pp., + 36 engraved plates by Luigi Mayer, contemporary half-calf with marbled boards, title gilt label on raised decorated spine, two leaves professionally backed in the white margin, occasional spotting not affecting the plates, boards slightly rubbed, carefully cleaned, a very well preserved copy, Baumgärtner, Leipzig, (1810-1814).

Synopsis

Rosenmüller (1736-1815) was a German Orientalist and Protestant theologian. In 1796 he became an associate professor in Arabic studies at Leipzig, where in 1813 he was appointed professor of Oriental languages. Mayer was a painter and draftsman of German descent who spent some years in Rome where he visited Piranesi’s school. In 1792 he travelled to the Orient, together with the British ambassador for the Ottoman Empire, Sir Robert Ainslie.
First edition of this work, “Views in Palestine from the Original Drawings of Luigi Mayer…,” was published in 6 parts in 1804. A second edition appeared c. 1807 as “A Series of 4 Views illustrated of the Holy Scriptures”. Then this German edition was published in 3 parts, 1810-14 in Leipzig as “Ansichten von Palästina” with text by Rosenmüller. Eight of the plates were published in 1812 as “Selection of Views in Palestine”.
The views are of: The Mount of Olives, Tower of Antonia, Maronite Monk and Pilgrim, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Pool of Bethesda, The Fountain of Siloah, Tomb of the Virgin Mary, Tomb of the Kings of Judah, Tomb of Absalom, The Valley of Josaphat, Kidron, Bethany with the Dead Sea, Church in Bethlehem, Sepulchre of Rachel, the Annunciation Chapel, Lake Tabria, Jacob’s Bridge, The Sepulchre, general views of Jerusalem, Nazareth, Rama and Bethlehem.
Bibliographic references: Blackmer 1099; Engelmann I, 156; Rohricht 339.