Israel

EXTREMELY RARE collection of 51 engravings, originally collected by Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, the second President of the State of Israel. The engravings were originally produced in the 19th century, and reprinted for this undated book. There is no information given about the identity of the artists nor the date of printing of these reproductions, but they are likely to have been printed in the late 1960's - the years in which the Israeli Publishing Institute was active. The book contains all 51 engravings listed in its index. All engravings are in b&w, and depict dramatic landscape art and the daily life in the 19th-century Hold Land. Each engraving is mounted inside a separate plate with a window at the front. The 51 plates are loose inside a cardboard case, which also contains a short introduction (unsigned) and three index pages. The index gives some explanation about each image. 285x235mm. Unpaginated, with a title page, 1 introduction page, 3 index pages, and the aforementioned 51 engravings mounted on separate plates. Tan faux-parchment cardboard folder case with illustrated title sticker on front. Case is in shoddy condition, with all corners worn, most edges worn, and hinges partly cracked and glued/taped, thus the folder case is still more or less intact. All pages and plates in excellent condition with very mild yellowing and a few very-slightly bent corners. [SUMMARY]: Despite considerable deterioration in the state of its outer casing, this relatively unknown collection of extremely-rare 19th-century engravings is internally in excellent condition.