Journey in Palestine and the Surroundings – Paris, 1886-1887 – Prints after Photographs and Maps

Journey in Palestine and the Surroundings – Paris, 1886-1887 – Prints after Photographs and Maps
En Orient, Récits et Notes d'un Voyage en Palestine et en Syrie by Abbe Roboisson (Pierre August Raoisson). Paris: Librairie Catholique de l'Oeuvre de Saint-Paul, 1886-1887. French. Two volumes.
A book documenting the journey of the French abbot Pierre Auguste Raboisson in Egypt, Sinai, Palestine and Syria. The two volumes together include 163 (of 164) plates – prints, made after photographs, which depict views, figures and sites in Palestine and the surroundings, and maps. Among the maps: map of Sinai, map of Jerusalem, map of Palestine, and more.
Abbot Raboisson was an amateur photographer who learned the art of photography shortly before the journey documented in this book. Even though he claimed that all the prints in this book were created after photographs taken during his journey, it was later discovered that some were created after photographs by Felix Bonfils and other photographers. See: "Focus East: Early Photography in the Near East (1839-1885)" by Nissan Perez (New York-Jerusalem, 1988), p. 207.
Vol. I: [2] leaves, 318, [1] pp + plates. Vol. II: [2] leaves, 354, [1] pp + plates. Missing one plate. 35 cm. Good-fair condition. Many stains. Tears at margins of a number of leaves. Small wormholes to first volume. Uncut sheets in second volume. Half-leather bindings (tears and defects. Open tears to spines).