"Archaeological Researches in Palestine", by Charles Clermont-Ganneau – London, Late 19th Century – Limited Edition ...

"Archaeological Researches in Palestine", by Charles Clermont-Ganneau – London, Late 19th Century – Limited Edition Signed by the Chairman of the Executive Committee of The Palestine Exploration Fund

Archaeological researches in Palestine during the Years 1873-1874, by Charles Clermont-Ganneau, with illustrations from drawings by A. Lecomte du Noüy. Published by Harrison and Sons for the Committee of The Palestine Exploration Fund, Volume I: 1899, Volume II: 1896. English. A book dealing with the archaeological research of Palestine on behalf of The Palestine Exploration Fund, accompanied by hundreds of diagrams and illustrations (most of them in the body of the text. Some on plates). The two volumes of the book were published in reverse order: volume I was published in 1899, dealing with archaeological findings that were discovered during excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem and adjacent areas. Volume II was published three years earlier, in 1896, dealing with archaeological sites in Palestine in general. Numbered edition: "Special Edition No. 22" and the second part No. 147. Signed by the chairman of the executive committee of the "Foundation for the Study of the Land of Israel" James Glaisher in both volumes. Fancy covers. Extremely rare.

The Author Clermont GNU [1846-1923] Diplomat, Orientalist and French archaeologist. One of the most prominent scholars of the Land of Israel in the 19th century. Sent to Eretz Israel in 1867 at the age of 21, and began working as an interpreter for the French Consulate in Jerusalem, and later in Istanbul. During his stay in Jerusalem he devoted himself to the study of the archeological sites of the city and the land, and acquired a reputation as one of the most important scholars of the land and of biblical archeology.

He built his reputation through one of the most important discoveries of biblical archeology, the tombstone of Meysha, discovered in 1868. Although Clermont-GNU did not discover the tombstone, it made an important contribution to its identification, investigation and rehabilitation. In the years 1873–1874 he headed a British archaeological expedition to Eretz Israel on behalf of the British Foundation for the Study of the Land of Israel, and published the findings of that journey in the book before us.

Clermont-GNU was the first in England to claim fraud and forgery in the Scrolls affair offered by Jerusalem antiquities dealer Moses Wilhelm Shapira for sale to the British Museum in 1883. This was after he had already denounced Shapira as a forger in a collection of Moab pottery collections he sold to a museum in Berlin.

Volume I: XVII, 528 pages + [7] Tables. Volume II: X, 504 + [1] Table. Approx. 29 cm. Cloth bindings, with gilded stamping. general condition good. Many leaves are not cut in the first volume. general condition very good.