Map of Palestine by Charles William Meredith van de Velde – Gotha, 1858

Map of Palestine by Charles William Meredith van de Velde – Gotha, 1858
Map of the Holy Land constructed by C.W.M. Van de Velde, engraved by Eberhardt and Stichardt. Gotha (Germany): Justus Perthes, 1858. First edition.
Map of Palestine by Charles William Meredith van de Velde. Printed on eight separate, linen-backed sheets and placed in the original portfolio.
The map, in a scale of 1:315,000, is based on measurements taken by Van de Velde himself during his 1851-1852 journey through Palestine, measurements and mapping of the Royal Engineers and various studies and travelogues by previous explorers.
Two small inset maps – map of the environs of Jerusalem (on the sixth section of the map) and a plan of Jerusalem (on the eighth section of the map).
Charles William Meredith van de Velde (1818-1898), a Dutch naval officer, acquired his cartographical experience working at the Dutch Royal Hydrographer's office in Batavia (today, Jakarta, Indonesia) from 1839 to 1841. Being a devout Protestant, he wanted to contribute his talents to the exploration of the Holy Land and to creating a precise and detailed map of the country. He made two trips to Palestine, once in 1851-1852 and again in the early 1860s, during which he took measurements and drew views of the country. Since he could not carry all the equipment required for the measurements nor had a team to assist him in the task of mapping the land (as he himself indicated in the introduction to the book he published alongside the map of Palestine – "Memoir to accompany the map of the Holy Land"), Van de Velde used existing maps and information collected from various studies and accounts. Alongside this map, his journeys also yielded a map of Jerusalem, a travelogue and many watercolor paintings.
Eight linen-backed paper plates, 37X45.5 cm each. Placed in the original half-leather portfolio, gilt-embossed: "Map of the Holy Land constructed by C.W.M. Van de Velde – 1858". Good condition. Stains. Fold line to corner of eighth plate (minute tears to paper along fold line). Stains to portfolio. Scuffs and minor blemishes to corners and spine of portfolio. Missing all ribbon ties except one.
Laor 778.
Enclosed: C.W.M van de Velde's Journey to the Land of Israel (1852), by Eliyahu Hacohen. Ariel Publishing House, Jerusalem, 2018 (Hebrew; limited edition).
Literature: The Land of Israel in Maps from Madaba up to the Satellite (Hebrew), edited by Ariel Tishbi. Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 2002. p. 164.