Description

 

Charles William WILSON (1836 – 1905) and Henry Spencer PALMER (1834 – 1893). / ORDNANCE SURVEY OF THE PENINSULA OF SINAI.

Southampton, England: Ordnance Survey Office, 1869 [-1870].

 

In the 1860s, the combination of Victorian religious revivalism, the advent of modern archaeology, and the intense geopolitical interest in the regions near the under-construction Suez Canal, caused Britain to initiate a series of grand surveys of the Holy Land and Egypt’s Siani Peninsula.  The first of these endeavours was the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem (1864-5), instigated of Anglican bishops who sought to gain a scientific-archaeological understanding of Christianity’s holiest city.  Thereby, a team of Royal Engineers, led by the 28-year-old Lieutenant Charles Wilson, conducted exhaustive surveys that led to “the first perfectly accurate map [of Jerusalem], even in the eyes of modern cartography”.  The survey made many significant archaeological and religiously important discoveries, winning it enormous praise in Britain.

 

Riding the success of the Jerusalem survey, the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) was established in 1865, with mandate to scientifically map the entire Holy Land (principally modern Israel), with an eye to uncovering archaeological sites, especially those of religious significance.  While piously minded people were excited about the possibility of Biblical revelations, Whitehall intended the PEF to be an espionage unit, reconnoitring a strategically vital area that was part of the ailing Ottman Empire.

 

The PEF was financed largely by subscriptions from the public throughout the British Empire, while it was to be staffed by members of the Royal Engineers, who were to be accompanied by academic authorities and interpreters.  The PEF’s most famous accomplishment was its Survey of Palestine (1872-80), which explored most of modern Isreal, leading to the publication of its famous 26-sheet Map of Western Palestine (London, 1881).  However, before that, the PEF realized an amazing achievement in the Sinai, the Biblical gateway to the Holy Land.

 

To the three Abrahamic religions, the Sinai Peninsula was the land where Moses led the Jews from Egypt proper across the Red Sea and where he received the Ten Commandments, before wandering the desert on their way towards the Promised Land, dramatic events all chronicled in Exodus.

 

Geopolitically, the Sinai abutted the nearly completed Suez Canal (built between 1858-1869), which was being constructed under French auspices (something which deeply bothered the British government).  While the coasts of the Sinai had been surveyed to a high degree of scientific proficiency by the Royal Navy in the 1830s, its interior was enigmatic to almost all Europeans, while it had never been mapped in any serious fashion.  Not only had the rugged terrain and scorching, parched desert climate discouraged European exploration of the interior of the Sinai, but the region was forever renowned for its murderous bandits.

 

In 1868, under the umbrella of the PEF, the Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai was commissioned to map the southern part of the peninsula (which lay between the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba), with an emphasis upon its Biblically important west-central region.  Of particular interest were the areas around Mount Sinai (also known as Jabal Musa, meaning the “Mountain of Moses), which at 2,285 m (7,497 ft) was the peninsula’s highest peak, and supposed by many to be the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments, and Mount Serbal (Jebel Serbal, 2,070 m / 6,790 ft), to the northeast, which was thought by others to be the true place where Moses received God’s laws.  Notably, near the foot of Mount Sinai was the famed St. Catherine’s Monastery, which competed in 565 AD, on the orders of Emperor Constantine the Great, today has the distinction of being the world’s oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery.  Inhabited by Orthodox monks, it houses one the greatest libraries of ancient Judeo-Christian manuscripts.  The area was full of ruins, landmarks and stones bearing inscriptions that were critical to the story of Exodus.

It was the Sinai Survey’s mandate to not only scientifically map the greater region, but to discover and record its archaeological wonders and to, hopefully, forge friendly contacts with the locals.  Ambitiously, it was also supposed to determine the path of Exodus and the true location where Moses received the Ten Commandments, by exactingly mapping both Mount Sinai and Mount Serbal.

Captain (later Major General Sir) Charles William Wilson (1836 – 1905), the same man who led the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, was appointed the lead the Sinai Survey.  An amazingly talented surveyor, he was also an archaeologist and an academic geographer, as well as a career-long intelligence officer.  He cut his teeth as a young Royal Engineer, in North America, surveying the U.S.-British North American boundary along the 49^th parallel (1858-62), before his posting in Jerusalem.  During the PEF’s survey of Western Palestine, whereupon he held senior roles, he notably mapped the Temple Mount.  Following this mission in Sinai, he variously served as the British Consul in Anatolia (1870-82) and participated in the famed ‘Desert Column’ of the 1884 Relief Expedition to Khartoum.  He then served as the Director-General of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland (1886-94), and as one of Britain’s’ most senior intelligence officers.  Finally, he was the Chairman for the PEF from 1901-5.

 

The other principal of the Ordnance Survey of Sinai was Captain (later Major-General) Henry Spencer Palmer (1834-1893), a Royal Engineer born in Bangalore, India who, like Wilson, went to North America to map the 49^th parallel.  In addition to his service in the Sinai Survey, he held a senior role in Ordnance Survey of Palestine, as well as playing leading parts in scientific surveys in New Zealand, Hong Kong and Barbados.  From 1887, he spent the rest of his days as a senior engineering consultant to the Japanese government, whereupon he notably redesigned the Port of Yokohama.

 

While not a surveyor, a key player in the Sinai Survey was Edward Henry Palmer (1840 –1882), commonly known simply as ‘E. H. Palmer’, a leading English orientalist and explorer.  A Cambridge professor, who mastered several languages, he was renowned for cataloguing the university’s vast collection of Middle Eastern manuscripts.  He joined the Sinai expedition, translating ancient inscriptions and uncovering archaeological sites, as well as acting as an interpreter, forging ties with the locals.  After participating in the Sinai Survey, Palmer made another expedition to the Sinai, in the company of Charles Francis Tyrwhitt-Drake, where he became much beloved by local Bedouin, who called him “Abdallah Effendi”.  This led the publication of his important work, The Desert of the Exodus (1871-2).  Tragically, and in a testament to the dangerous nature of the Sinai, Palmer was murdered by local Arab sheikhs while taking part in an expedition to the peninsula to secure British colonial control over the region.  Notably, the present portfolio of maps of the Sinai Survey belonged to Palmer.

 

Turning to the Sinai Survey itself, after many months of gruelling and dangerous work, through 1868 and 1869, Wilson, Palmer and company completed their awesome task, having scientifically mapped the southern Sinai for the first time, both topography and geologically, while conducting precise mapping of Mounts Sinai and Serbal.  Additionally, the expedition took many fine photographs, under the direction of its official photographer Sargeant J. Macdonald.

While the expedition may not have succeeded in revealing all the secrets of Exodus, it did make many amazing archaeological discoveries, while finding and translating many ancient inscriptions of enduring significance.  From a geopolitical point of view, the mission acquired valuable intelligence on the nature of the land and its peoples that would in the early 1880s prove vital to Britain’s efforts to secure the Sinai and the Suez Canal under their de facto military and political control.

The results of the Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai were recorded and showcased in a sumptuous 3 volume folio work, published in Southampton, England by the Ordnance Survey Office, from 1869 to 1871.  These tomes included Vol 1. [Illustrated Text] Account of the Origin, Progress and Results of the Survey; Vol. 2. Maps, Plans and Sections [8 Maps and 2 Sheets of Topographical Cross-Sections, loose in a portfolio]; and Vol. 3. Photographic Views [mostly by Sargeant Macdonald].  This set represented one of the grandest and most beautiful memoirs of any exploring expedition of the 19^th century.

THE PRESENT OFFERING IN FOCUS

Here is the complete Volume 2 of the Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai report, featuring 10 large format plates, including 8 Maps and 2 Sheets of Topographical Cross-Sections, some coloured, mounted upon original linen with blue silk edging, all folding into custom folio covers bearing the title in gilt.  Volumes 1 (text) and Volume 3 (photos) of the report are not included here.

The maps and views, which are all original products of Wilson and Palmer’s surveys, represent the first accurate general mapping of the interior of Sinai and its most Biblically and archaeologically important areas.  The maps/views can be divided into 3 categories.  First, Maps #1-4 are general maps of either the southern two-thirds of the Sinai, or the sizeable centre-western part of the peninsula, extending from the Mount Sinai-Mount Serbal area to the Gulf of Suez.  Second, Maps/Views #5-7 concern the site-specific survey of the Mount Sinai-St. Catherine’s Monastery area.  Third, Maps/Views #8-10 feature the survey of Mount Serbal and vicinity.

The present example of the portfolio comes with a stellar provenance, as it was the example owned by one of the leading lights of the Sinai Survey, Professor Edward H. Palmer.  The inside of the front cover of the portfolio bears a printed pastedown presentation plate that reads: ‘Presented to Professor E.H. Palmer, M.A. by Authority of The Right Hon.ble The First Commissioner of H.M. Works & c.’

The complete map portfolio of the report of the Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai, being Volume 2, featuring 10 maps and crosse-sections, appears only very rarely on the market.  For context, the full report, complete in 3 volumes, is an extreme rarity in commerce.  One was recently offered by a New York dealer for $65,000, while the last auction listing before that was from Sotheby’s in 1972.

THE 10 MAPS/CROSS-SECTIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

 

[1].

Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai. Made with the sanction of the Right Hon: Sir John Parkington, Bart: Secretary of State for War, by Captains C.W. Wilson and H.S. Palmer under the direction of Major General Sir Henry James, R.E: F.R.S., & c., Director General of the Ordnance Survey. MDCCCLXIX. / [Printed label on verso reads:]

Peninsula of Sinai. (Scale 10 Miles to an Inch).

[Southampton, England: Ordnance Survey Office, 1869.]

Lithograph in two tones (black and brown) with the coastlines outlined in blue wash, dissected into 2 sections and mounted upon original linen with blue silk edging (Very Good, clean and bright), 47 x 69 cm (18.5 x 27 inches).

 

This fine work represents the first scientifically accurate general topographical map of the Sinai Peninsula, or at least its southern two thirds.  While the coastlines of the peninsula were first charted by surveyors working for the East India Company in the early 1830s, with the result published as Chart of the Red Sea, Comprising the part above Jiddah, on Mercator’s Projection, Compiled from a Stasimetric Survey, Executed in the Years 1830, 31, 32 & 33… (London, 1836), prior to Wilson and Palmer’s Ordnance Survey almost all of the interior of the peninsula was largely an enigma to the Europeans and had never been scientifically mapped.  Located below the vast wasteland of the ‘Wilderness of the Wanderings”, in the centre of the peninsula, the map very carefully charts the numerous wadis that pierce the interior (the only viable transport corridors), while the mountain systems are expressed by careful hachuring.  The inset map on the lefthand side details the Suez Canal, based upon Admiralty charts, and showcases the course of the recently completed wonder of modern engineering, along with the rail lines that serve its ports.

 

Below the title, the map reveals its sources as being Wilson and Palmer’s surveys of 1868-9; Heinrich Kiepert’s Map of Lower Egypt and the Peninsula of Sinai (1856); Sketch of the Peninsula of Sinai and Mount Sinai by Reverend F.W. Holland, M.A., 1868; Sketches by E.H. Plamer and C.F. Tyrwhitt Drake, Esq.rs, 1868-9; and Moresby’s sea chart of 1833.

 

[2.]

Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai. Made with the sanction of the Right Hon: Sir John Parkington, Bart: Secretary of State for War, by Captains C.W. Wilson and H.S. Palmer under the direction of Major General Sir Henry James, R.E: F.R.S., & c., Director General of the Ordnance Survey. MDCCCLXIX. / [Printed label on verso reads:] Peninsula of Sinai – Geologically Coloured. (Scale Ten Miles to an Inch).

[Southampton, England: Ordnance Survey Office, 1869].

Zincograph, with full original hand colour, dissected into 2 sections and mounted upon original linen with blue silk edging (Very Good, lovely colours, clean and bright), 47 x 68 (18.5 x 27 inches).

 

This highly attractive work is the first printing of the first geological map of the Sinai Peninsula, being a version of the above general topographical map, save that it is overlaid with the coded shading of geological zones.  The 8 zones, as described below the title, are: Syenite (Shaded Rose colour, marked ‘A’); Metamorphic (Shaded Purple, marked ‘B’); Sandstone (Shaded Dark Pink, marked ‘C’); Cretaceous (Shaded Orange, marked ‘D’); Nummulitic (Shaded Yellow with Dots, marked ‘E’); Gypseous Series (Shaded Pink with Green Lines, marked ‘F’); and Desert Drift & Raised Beach (Shaded Ochre, marked ‘G’).

 

Further below, the map reveals its sources as being the same for the above general topographical map [#1].

 

[3].

Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai made in 1868-9 by Captains C.W. Wilson and H.S. Palmer, R.E. under the direction of Major General Sir Henry James, R.E: F.R.S., & c., Director-General of the Ordnance Survey. / [Printed label on verso reads:] Peninsula of Sinai – Outline. (Scale Two Miles to an Inch).

Southampton, England: Ordnance Survey Office, [1869].

Zincograph, dissected into 9 sections and mounted upon original linen with blue silk edging (Good, lines of natural oxidization, especially running vertically down lefthand side), 130 x 103 cm (51 x 40.5 inches).

 

This fascinating, massive work is the first practically useful transportation map, as well as the first archaeological map of the critical corridors of the peninsula that extend into the interior from the Gulf of Sinai to the Mount Sinai-Saint Catherine’s Monastery area.  It meticulously details all the wadis and caravan routes and roads (ex. ‘Road for light camels’) entering the heart of the Sinai and intentionally does not include hill shading to lend clarity for its seminal purpose.  Many Arabic placenames are transliterated, spot heights of many places are noted, villages and forts are marked, while there are copious notes on the nature of the countryside and vegetation.  The empirical authority of the map is supported by its honesty as to where reconnaissance was not undertaken, as such areas are marked as ‘Unexplored’.

 

The map features a vast wealth of archaeological information, such as the locations of ‘Inscriptions’, ‘Ruined Temples’, and ‘Stone Circles’, etc.  The identity of the civilizations that that produced the archaeological finds is indicated by the font by which they are labelled, as noted in the ‘References’, below the title, so specifying Primitive, Egyptian, Sinaitic and Monastic origins.

 

[4].

Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai made in 1868-9 by Captains C.W. Wilson and H.S. Palmer, R.E. under the direction of Major General Sir Henry James, R.E: F.R.S., & c., Director-General of the Ordnance Survey. / [Printed label on verso reads:] Peninsula of Sinai – Hill Shaded. (Scale Two Miles to an Inch).

Southampton, England: Ordnance Survey Office, [1869].

Zincograph, dissected into 9 sections and mounted upon original linen with blue silk edging (Good, 2 lines of natural oxidization running horizontally across centre of the map), 130 x 103 cm (51 x 40.5 inches).

 

This map is the same as Map [#3] above, save that it adds hill shading, that while perhaps making the transportation/archaeological information harder to visualize, grants a more sophisticated picture, considering the extremely rugged nature of the peninsula’s landscape.

 

[5].

Ordnance Survey of Mount Sinai by C.W. Wilson and H.S. Palmer, R.E. under the direction of Major General Sir Henry James, R.E: F.R.S., & c., Director General of the Ordnance Survey. 1868-9. / [Printed label on verso reads:] Mount Sinai – Outline. (Scale Six Inches to a Mile).

Southampton, England: Ordnance Survey Office, 1870.

Zincograph, with the location of the ‘Convent of St. Katherine’ shaded in bright pink, dissected into 4 sections and mounted upon original linen with blue silk edging (Very Good, clean and bright), 93 x 68 cm (36.5 x 27 inches).

 

This intriguing map is the first scientific survey of the Biblically famous area around Mount Sinai and the St. Catherine’s Monastery.  The map carefully showcases the area’s very rugged terrain, with its deep wadis and high desert peaks, with rises of elevation expressed by light shading, so as not to obscure vital archaeological/Biblical features.  St. Catherine’s Monastery is located near the centre of the map, and is shaded in bright pink, amidst a small, irrigated patch within the ‘Wady Ed ’Deir’, at the foot of Mount Sinai.  The ‘Royal Engineers Camp’ is shown just down the wadi.  The map features innumerable spot heights, surveying marks, the delineation of desert roads and trails, as well as the locations of wells.  Many archaeological details are shown, including the locations of ruined monasteries, chapels, tombs and burial grounds, with place names such as the ‘Chapel and Mosque of Moses’, the ‘Footprint of the Prophet’s Camel’ and the ‘Confessional Archway with defaced Inscription’.  Various locations are also marked with the specific verses from Exodus, describing where events occurred.

 

[6].

Ordnance Survey of Mount Sinai by C.W. Wilson and H.S. Palmer, R.E. under the direction of Major General Sir Henry James, R.E: F.R.S., & c., Director General of the Ordnance Survey. 1868-9. / [Printed label on verso reads:] Mount Sinai – Hill Shaded. (Scale Six Inches to a Mile).

Southampton, England: Ordnance Survey Office, 1870.

Zincograph, with the location of the ‘Convent of St. Katherine’ shaded in dark red, dissected into 4 sections and mounted upon original linen with blue silk edging (Very Good, clean and bright), 94 x 68.5 cm (37 x 27 inches).

 

This map is the same as Map [#5] above, save that it includes hill shading it order to provide a more sophisticated view of the area’s rugged topography, while omitting much of the archaeological/human detail.

 

[7].

Ordnance Survey of Mount Sinai by C.W. Wilson and H.S. Palmer, R.E. under the direction of Major General Sir Henry James, R.E: F.R.S., & c., Director General of the Ordnance Survey. 1868-9. / / Sections at Mount Sinai. [Printed label on verso reads:]

Mount Sinai – Sections. (Scale Six Inches to a Mile).

[Southampton, England: Ordnance Survey Office, 1870.]

Zincograph, with the location of the ‘Convent of St. Katherine’ shaded in bright pink, dissected into 4 sections and mounted upon original linen with blue silk edging (Very Good, clean and bright), 68.5 x 93 cm (27 x 36.5 inches).

 

This sheet features four cross-section views of the topography of the Mount Sinai area taken from different angles as marked on Map [#5] above (A-B, C-D, E-F and G-F), labelling the major peaks with their heights in feet, along with the location of the St. Catherine’s Monastery, shaded in pink along line E-F.

 

[8].

Ordnance Survey of Mount Serbál by C.W. Wilson and H.S. Palmer, R.E. under the direction of Major General Sir Henry James, R.E: F.R.S., & c., Director General of the Ordnance Survey. 1868-9. / [Printed label on verso reads:] Mount Serbal – Outline. (Scale Six Inches to a Mile).

Southampton, England: Ordnance Survey Office, 1870.

Zincograph, dissected into 4 sections and mounted upon original linen with blue silk edging (Very Good, clean and bright), 93 x 68 cm (36.5 x 27 inches).

 

This is the first scientific survey of the area around Mount Serbal (marked here as being 6,443 feet high), the summit upon which Moses supposedly read the Ten Commandments.  While the terrain is mapped with great accuracy, with the deep Wadis cutting down from the high, barren peaks, compared to their reconnaissance of the Mount Sinai area, Wilson, Palmer & company did not find many archaeological sites.

 

[9].

Ordnance Survey of Mount Serbál by C.W. Wilson and H.S. Palmer, R.E. under the direction of Major General Sir Henry James, R.E: F.R.S., & c., Director General of the Ordnance Survey. 1868-9. / [Printed label on verso reads:] Mount Serbal – Hill Shaded. (Scale Six Inches to a Mile).

Zincograph, dissected into 4 sections and mounted upon original linen with blue silk edging (Very Good, clean and bright), 93.5 x 68 cm (37 x 27 inches).

 

This map is the same as the above map of Mount Serbal [#8], same that it adds hill shading to provide a more sophisticated impression of the rugged topography.

 

[10].

Ordnance Survey of Mount Serbál by C.W. Wilson and H.S. Palmer, R.E. under the direction of Major General Sir Henry James, R.E: F.R.S., & c., Director General of the Ordnance Survey. 1868-9. / Sections at Mount Serbál. [Printed label on verso reads:]

Mount Serbal – Sections. (Scale Six Inches to a Mile).

[Southampton, England: Ordnance Survey Office, 1870.]

Zincograph, dissected into 6 sections and mounted upon original linen with blue silk edging (Good, a line of natural oxidization running vertically down lefthand side), 68.5 x 107 cm (27 x 42 inches).

 

This sheet features five cross-section views of the topography of the Mount Serbal area taken from different angles as marked on Map [8] above (A-B, C-D, E-F, G-F and h-G), labelling the major peaks with their heights in feet.

 

References: Getty Museum: 84.XO.1248.2; Staatsbibliothek Berlin: gr.2″@Ul 9537-2; OCLC: 249866617.