Only editon, foldout may, 370 pp., woodcuts, drawings, octavo, 175:105 mm., wide margins, light age staining.. A very good copy bound in contemporary boards, rubbed, split.

Rare - No copy in many major collections.

 

 

From the Introduction:

   This work has been undertaken with the view of supplying what has long been felt as a desideratum in Schools, —a History of Palestine, with Accounts of the Geography of the country, and of the Customs and Institutions of its ancient inhabitants, such as have been introduced with much advantage in recent school histories of other nations.
     The History has been written expressly for its present use, and is in no respect an abridgment of the author's larger work, the Pictorial History of Palestine. In its preparation simplicity and precision of style qualifications so essential to the usefulness of a School-book have been steadily kept in view; and the descriptive portion of the work is liberally embellished with Wood Engravings, representing Landscapes, Buildings, Plants, Illustrations of Manners and Customs, and whatever can be more clearly displayed by pictorial than by written description, or by which the written text may be in any degree elucidated.
     Although primarily intended for the use of Schools, the book will be found well suited for general purposes, being a complete Manual of Jewish History and Antiquities, and as such, proper to accompany the Sacred Volume as a popular digest of, and commentary on, all its material facts.

 

John Kitto (1804 – 1854) was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent. Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.

From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself. One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.

A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.