As one of their “Fabulous Friday” specials, CBD is offering slightly imperfect copies of the Aerial Atlas of the Holy Land for $15 (retail: $50; perfect copies are $38). I have not seen this 2008 work, but with photographs by Sonia Halliday I would expect the best. The text is written by John Bowker.

The publisher’s description lists some of the sites featured:

Now, thanks to aerial photography from a single, exceptionally high-quality and up-to-date source, the Aerial Atlas of the Holy Land reveals the ancient crossroads of Galilee, Samaria and Judea as never before seen in book form. Included are 36 sites of great Jewish, Christian or Muslim significance dating to Roman, Persian and Crusader times. The informative text adds historical, religious and cultural context to this superb photographic survey of the Holy Land. Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth are featured, as are such other key locations as Caesarea, Philippi, Cana, Qumran, Jericho, Mount Hermon, the Carmel Caves, Tiberias, Dor and the Sea of Galilee.

Amazon has the same work (but without the imperfections?) for $20 and that qualifies for their free shipping with Prime or orders of $25. They also list used (but like new) copies starting at $8.74. Back to the CBD special, regular shipping in the US costs $6.

Amazon lists the same book but with a different publisher and cover here.

HT: Charles Savelle

If only…

I needed these a few years ago, but there were none to be found. Not under rocks, not under bushes, not under sycamore-fig trees. One of my students was teaching a class in Europe and bought every loose copy he could find on the internet. (Indeed, that put him on my black list.)
Eisenbrauns has not only come up with some copies of the Student Map Manual, but they’re selling them for $3 each. It’s the “Deal of the Day” which I believe expires mid-day tomorrow (9/21).

You might want to purchase one if:

• You want to do a serious study of historical geography that involves marking maps.
• You want to re-do your serious study (that wasn’t so serious because you were young, dumb, and in a hurry) when you went to study at the Institute of Holy Land Studies/Jerusalem University College or the Israel Bible Extension.
• You heard stories of this great work but never had a chance to purchase one.

You might want to purchase more than one if:

• You want to teach a course using this classic work.
• You want each of your kids and grandkids to have a copy.

There are newer works out that aim to replace this (a big cheer to the folks at Biblical Backgrounds here), but this work retains a value that I don’t think will ever be completely replaced.

Note that in order to do the markings you will need a copy of James Monson, The Land Between. Amazon has a few used copies of this, starting at $4.