Samuel Manning - Those Holy Fields. Palestine by pen & pencil - 1874

MANNING, Samuel – "Those Holy Fields": Palestine, Illustrated by Pen and Pencil (c. 1874) — First Edition

An incredibly popular piece of late-Victorian travelogue literature, "Those Holy Fields": Palestine, Illustrated by Pen and Pencil was authored by English clergyman Samuel Manning and published circa 1874 by The Religious Tract Society, London.

Written following Manning's detailed journey through the Holy Land in 1873, the book seeks to evaluate the relationship between the physical topography of the Middle East and biblical accounts. It covers critical scriptural locations, beginning in Jaffa and guiding the reader through Hebron, Bethlehem, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Nazareth, and the Jordan River.

The volume is highly prized for its immense visual record, boasting over 150 exquisite wood-engraved illustrations and maps that vividly depict 19th-century architecture, local dress, regional landscapes, and sacred ruins. This particular copy is presented in its striking original publisher's ornate cloth, richly stamped in black and gilt with an illustration of travellers on camels traversing the desert.

Profusely Illustrated: Contains a spectacular suite of over 150 pen-and-pencil engravings and embedded maps.
Ornate Victorian Cover Art: Bound in original decorative cloth featuring an elaborate pictorial gilt-and-black landscape design.
Gilt Finishes: All three edges of the page block are finished in bright gilded finish, offering great shelf appeal.
Bookseller Provenance: Features a historic antiquarian ticket from the Dutch academic bookshop P. Sommerwil based in Leiden on the inner front board.

Condition Report:

Exterior: Fair to Good condition. The front and rear cloth boards display rich colour with highly visible gilt details. The spine has been professionally or neatly rebacked with an unlettered brown cloth strip, stabilizing the structure. Wear and light fraying present at the corner tips.

Interior: The binding structure is completely stable and secure. The inner hinges have been neatly reinforced with brown linen tape. The pages show occasional light thumb-soiling and gentle age-toning, but remain free of major modern annotations.

Illustrations/Maps: The maps and wood engravings are clean, complete, and sharply detailed.
Page Count: 223 pages + publisher's catalog at rear.
Dimensions: Quarto size; approx. 28.5 cm × 20.5 cm

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Ship tracked & Insured.