“The author’s object in accepting an appointment under the United States Government was not the honor or emoluments of office, but a desire to visit the lands of the Bible, that he might see for himself how far the manners, customs, and traditions of the people and topography of those countries agreed with the inspired word.”

So begins one of the numerous 19th century Bible customs travel accounts by Christian enthusiasts able to travel to their “Holy Land.” The author is Frank S. DeHass, who served as the United States Consul in Palestine in the mid 19th century. His text is aptly entitled Buried Cities Recovered, or, Explorations in Bible Lands, giving the results of recent researches in the Orient, and recovery of many places in sacred and profane history long considered lost. My copy, handed down from my grandmother, was published in 1886 in Philadelphia by Bradley & Company; the tenth edition no less! This is a wonderful read and you can read the entire book online, thanks to Google Books.

Like so many other Bibliophiles of his generation, DeHass extols the virtue of actually visiting the land where Jesus was born and died. In his own words:

Recent explorations in the East have resulted in the recovery of many places in sacred and profane history long regarded as lost; and as the facts brought out by these researches are not accessible to the general reader, the author has compiled them in this concise form, and at the request of numerous friends gives them to the public, not as a scientific work for the antiquarian, but as a humble contribution to Biblical archaeology for the home circle, believing that such a volume will add greatly to the elucidation of the Scriptures, and serve to correct some of the errors which many travellers have fallen into by a too hasty or superficial view of the places visited. Continue reading Buried Texts Recovered: An American Consul in the Holy Land →