Oblong folio; ff. [i], [2-23] [pressed arrangements]; with 22 arrangements of pressed flowers, each with printed title identifying a biblical location, with protective tissue, mounted on stiff card; gilt edges; some loss to the arrangement at f. 23a; a very good copy in the original red roan, carved panels of olive-wood mounted on both boards, the upper panel with a Jerusalem cross, the lower inscribed 'Jerusalem' in English and Hebrew;
both panels with mosaic inlay, the spine in compartments with gilt title and florets; a little shaken, the joints and edges a bit rubbed, and slight wear to the wooden panels.
Rare. An artistically composed set of pressed floral arrangements, this album is the work of Boulos Meo, rug merchant and founder of the Jerusalem souvenir shop which bore his name for almost the entirety of the twentieth century. Each plate is linked to a particular biblical location, from Mount Temptation to Gethsemane, and many of the arrangements are centred around palm crosses. Given this, the religious motifs apparent on the boards, and the printed title of the album, it seems plain that Meo's work was intended for Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem, whose numbers burgeoned as the city emerged from the lengthy period of doldrums it endured under Ottoman rule. Restrained, well-preserved, and beautifully presented, with a most unusual binding, carved as it is from local olive-wood, this is a compelling object.
In missing Fedex shipment together with 4 items:
MEDHURST, William H.
An Inquiry into the proper Mode of Rendering the word God in translating the sacred Scriptures into the Chinese Language …
CUBA - CHINESE COOLIES. Collection of 14 partly-printed documents and manuscripts
LEWIS, C.S. Autograph manuscript of his poem ['On Being Human'] on the subject of angels, 1948.
THOMPSON, Francis. Autograph manuscript of an unpublished poem entitled 'A Child's Parting', [1917].
