A special edition of Kitchener’s important map of Palestine

An example of the reduced edition of the first scientific map of the Ottoman province of Palestine, surveyed by the British Army for the Palestine Exploration Fund, here overprinted with details from classical texts, compiled by Trelawney Saunders (1821-1910). The survey was begun in 1871 by Captain Richard Warren Stewart and Charles Tyrwhitt-Drake. Stewart returned to England after falling ill in 1872 and was replaced by Claude Reignier Conder (1848-1910); Tyrwhitt-Drake died of malaria in 1874 and was superseded by Horatio Herbert Kitchener (1850-1916). The work continued until 1875, when Conder was injured in an attack on the group. After a break of 15 months, it was left to Kitchener to finish the survey. The map of Western Palestine was first published in 1880 on 26 sheets, on a scale on one inch to a mile. This version, on a scale of three-eighths of an inch to a mile, was one of four published the following year, with with two other 'special editions' overprinted to show 'the Divisions of The Natural Drainage and the Mountain Ranges' and 'The New Testament, also The Talmud and Josephus'.