See Palestine the Mark Twain way

Floyd, Rolla. A General Programme and Itinerary for Palestine and Syria, With Detailed Routes for Trips of From 10 to 30 Days [...].

€ 1.250,00

Sole edition of this rare and early guide-book to Palestine and Syria by Rolla Floyd (1838-1911), a maverick American tour-guide in the Middle East.

The itineraries listed here are offered either with or without camp. The first, a two-week tour from Jaffa to Jerusalem, includes stops at Bethlehem, Solomon's pool, Hebron and the Jordan. The second also goes from Jaffa to Jerusalem but via the Sea of Galilee and Nazareth, while the longest 30-day excursions are from Jaffa to Beyrout via Jerusalem, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, Damascus and Baalbek.

The first American Dragoman to work within Palestine, the Maine-born Floyd moved to the region shortly after the end of the American Civil War and was a founding member of the American Colony at Jaffa. Once the Colony was abandoned, he relocated to Jerusalem and commenced working as a guide for the Thomas Cook Company. After many successful years in partnership, Floyd fell out with Cook's and set up on his own. So acrimonious was the split that Thomas Cook inserted a clause into all supplier contracts prohibiting any collaboration with Floyd. What might have proved an insurmountable obstacle, in fact neither stopped Floyd from doing well nor from re-joining the firm in 1902. So brilliant was Floyd considered in his role that he served as a guide to Ulysses S. Grant and Mark Twain.

Wrappers chipped with tape repair to verso of upper wrapper. A rare document of the burgeoning tourist trade in the Middle East, and a highly uncommon survival.