Distant Views of the Holy Land

by Felicity Cobbing and David Jacobson

Book cover: Distant Views of the Holy Land

Extent: 416 pages

Publisher: Equinox Publishing

Subjects: Ancient Near East, Biblical Studies

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(August 2015)

ISBN: 9781781790618

8.23 x 10.79 inches

Price: $200.00

In stock

The Holy Land has been an enduring magnet for visitors seeking to retrace the footsteps of biblical prophets, kings and saints and to glimpse the setting of events recorded in the Scriptures. This book offers a selection of over 350 early photographs, paintings, and drawings of the length and breadth of the Holy Land from the rich repository of images in the archives of the Palestine Exploration Fund. As these images were produced before modern development impacted on these landscapes they are an invaluable resource. The pictures are accompanied by 7 maps and plans showing the locations depicted and a commentary describing the biblical context, informed by up-to-date scholarship.


The Holy Land has been an enduring magnet for visitors seeking to retrace the footsteps of biblical prophets, kings and saints and to glimpse the setting of events recorded in the Scriptures. This book offers a selection of over 350 early photographs, paintings, and drawings of the length and breadth of the Holy Land from the rich repository of images in the archives of the Palestine Exploration Fund. As these images were produced before modern development impacted on these landscapes they are an invaluable resource. The pictures are accompanied by 7 maps and plans showing the locations depicted and a commentary describing the biblical context, informed by up-to-date scholarship. The book is divided into five chapters; an introduction which includes a brief account of pilgrimage to the Holy Land through the ages, followed by a series of geographical ‘tours’ through Galilee, Samaria, and Judea and Philistia, before culminating with a focus on the two main sites of interest for the traveller: Bethlehem and Jerusalem. While often very beautiful in their own right, the pictures also reflect the interest and sensibilities of the photographers and those who collected them, and capture the opposing undercurrents of scientific enquiry and piety characteristic of 19th Century European society. In the case of the photographers engaged by the PEF, a striving for objectivity is strikingly evident in their work.

  • By (author) Felicity Cobbing
  • By (author) David Jacobson

"'Distant Views of the Holy Land' is a noteworthy volume of early photographs, paintings, and drawings of the Holy Land (including maps and color plates) from the archives of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF). It is a fitting publication for 2015, as the year marks the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the PEF. [...] BAR readers and anyone interested in the Bible or archaeology in the Holy Land will appreciate leafing through this volume... This is a valuable book in which even experts in the field may discover something new." --Nitza Rosovsky, Biblical Archaeology Review