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''Picturesque Palestine, Sinai, and Egypt'' was a lavishly illustrated set of books published by D. Appleton & Co. in the early 1880s based on their phenomenally successful ''Picturesque America'' and ''Picturesque Europe'' series. It was edited by Charles William Wilson. The Appleton series was issued as "two volumes or four divisions"; it was reprinted in London by J.S. Virtue & Co., simply published as four volumes. It was followed in 1884 by Stanley Lane-Poole's ''Social Life in Egypt'', a kind of sequel that billed itself as "a supplement to ''Picturesque Palestine''". It is sometimes treated as a "fifth volume" of the series, but did not use Fenn or Woodward for its art. ==Publication== Charles Wilson, a Royal Engineer, had attempted to improve British military intelligence in an age when spying was seen as "ungentlemanly" or "work of a low order", even successfully reducing his own role in order to get a general involved who would be able to defend the interests of the intelligence service. Never a spy as such, he simply "went in openly", scouting and studying areas of military interest. Throughout the 19th century, the Holy Land became increasingly important as a route between Europe and the Indian Ocean: important to Britain as a faster route to India and to other powers as way around the British-held choke point at Gibraltar. He had visited Jerusalem in 1864, spending ten months mapping the city with the help of local workers and even the Prussian consul. He mixed research in Biblical archaeology with military and civilian intelligence about water courses and lines of defense. In addition to grants from the Treasury, the detailed maps and photographs produced sold very well, earning a profit on the endeavor in their own right. He then joined the Palestine Exploration Fund and directed the Survey of Western Palestine, which also acted as a "cover for military mapping". Unlike the earlier ''Picturesque'' series, ''Picturesque Palestine'' did not employ numerous artists on the project but only used two of the more successful artists from the earlier books, Harry Fenn and J.D. Woodward. Their sketches were compiled on site during Woodward and Fenn's two joint tours of Egypt and the Levant in the winters of 1877–78 and 1878–79. The two trips are documented in his correspondence with Woodward's wife and his mother. The pair received special permission to sketch inside and under the Mosque of Omar (the Dome of the Rock), although Woodward compared the streets of Jerusalem with the "dirtiest alleys of Baltimore". Oppressed by the heat, glare, and barrenness, the best he could say about the shore of the Dead Sea was "I suppose it is not so bad it couldn't be worse". Nazareth was "the worst", while he was most impressed by the Syrio-Roman ruins at Baalbek. The works were "enormously successful", with Woodward and Fenn each earning an estimated a year in royalties on the Holy Land volumes. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Picturesque Palestine, Sinai, and Egypt」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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