Abrahami Patriarchae Peregrinatio, et Vita [The Wanderings and Life of Abraham the Patriarch], hand-colored engraving, from Abraham Ortelius's Additamentum IV Theatri Orbis Terrarum. Antwerp, [1590].
The map (after Tilemann Stella) depicts the land of Canaan and part of Egypt, from Dan in the north to the Nile Delta in the south. It illustrates the story of Abraham as recorded in Genesis and shows the territories of the various nations of Canaan. The Dead Sea is not depicted, the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Adma and Tzevoyim appearing instead. An inset map of the Middle East shows Abraham's route from Ur of the Chaldees to Nablus. Three scale bars representing three different measuring methods appear on the right bottom corner. Top and bottom verses from the book of Genesis (12, 1-2. Latin): "Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house to the land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shall be a blessing".
Surrounding the map are 22 medallion vingettes depicting scenes from the life of Abraham, after illustrations by the Dutch artist Marten de Vos (1532-1603): the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael and the binding of Isaac, the burial of Abraham and Sarah, and more.
Latin text on verso (with a title identical to that of the map).
Engraved map: approx. 35X46 cm (printed on two conjoined sheets), in an approx. 72X61 cm double sided frame (showing both sides of the map). Good condition. Unexamined out of frame.
Literature: The Land of Israel in Maps from Madaba to Satellite (Hebrew), edited by Ariel Tishbi. Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 2001. p. 98.
Laor 547.

Map of Palestine, hand-colored engraving by Abraham bar Jacob (signed in the plate). [Amsterdam, 1712].
The map depicts Palestine, the Sinai Desert and the territories of the Twelve Tribes. Oriented to the east with the Mediterranean Sea at bottom and the Nile Delta to the right. The shoreline runs from Sidon to Alexandria. The map shows the route of the Israelites in the Sinai Desert; an ornate cartouche at lower right corner lists the 41 stations of the Israelites in the desert. Ships hauling the Lebanon cedars sent by Hiram King of Tyre to King Solomon for the building of the Temple and the story of Jonah depicted along the shoreline. A barn and grazing farm animals, depicted at lower left corner, symbolize the fertility of Palestine.
The map, by the Dutch proselyte Abraham bar Jacob (after Christian van Adrichom), was first printed in the 1695 Amsterdam Passover Haggadah. The date of its printing was encoded in the title by emphasizing certain letter in the Hebrew word "Techezena". In later editions, the year of printing was adjusted by emphasizing additional letters.
Engraved map: 47.5X25.5 cm. Matted and framed. Good condition.
See Laor 876.

Destruccio Iherosolime [Destruction of Jerusalem], double incunable leaf (f. LXIIII) from Hartmann Schedel's famed "Schedelsche Weltchronik" (also known as "Liber Chronicarum" or "Nuremberg Chronicle"). [Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1493]. Latin. One of the first views of Jerusalem ever printed.
A woodcut depicting the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple by Babylonian general Nabuzaradan in the year 586 BCE.
On verso, woodcuts depicting King Zedekiah, blinded and led into Babylonian captivity, and the kings and prophets of Judah: Jeconiah, Zerubbabel, Haggai, Malachi and others.
The "Nuremberg Chronicle" comprised a history of the world from creation up to the author's time, based on the Bible and on various other sources. The book, first printed in Anton Koberger's printing house in Nuremberg in 1493, is considered one of the best-documented incunabula. It was one of the first books to integrate illustrations and text and is famous to this day, mainly for its numerous woodcuts. The woodcuts were provided by the workshop of Michael Wolgemut, one of Nuremberg's leading artists at the time (in whose workshop Albrecht Dürer was apprenticed between 1486-9).
Leaf: approx. 42.5X59 cm. Matted (with adhesive tape to upper edge) and framed. Frame: 74X60 cm. Good condition. Small tears along vertical fold line (reinforced with two strips of paper mounted on verso).
Laor 1125.