Images of Ottoman Palestine A complete 36-card set titled The Travel Lessons on the Life of Christ, published by Underwood and Underwood c. 1902, comprising the faux-book box, 36 photographic illustrations of Palestine as it was in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, with the original book by the biblical scholar William Byron Forbush [1868-1927], which includes four folding maps of Palestine and Jerusalem. Also included is an original Underwood & Underwood stereoscopic viewer. The box has touches of wear, but remains a solid example. The stereoviews are in good condition. The book has occasional dog-earing and creasing to the margins of a few pages. The folding maps at the end are in good condition. The set begins with card no. 1, 'Jaffa, the Joppa of Bible Times, Palestine' because this was the port of entry for travellers to the country. Joppa had great biblical significance, being the port from which Solomon shipped cedar logs to build the first temple. Card 36, looking out on the Sea of Galilee, was similarly chosen as the evocative scene of Jesus' final appearance to his disciples, thus completing the narrative of Christ's life. Underwood & Underwood had previously produced a set titled 'Images of The Life of Christ' in stereoviews, but those were theatrically staged in the US and did not use actual photographs of turn-of-the-century Palestine. There was also a 100-card set, 'Palestine Through the Stereoscope', and sometimes, 'blended' sets were put together. The set on offer here, however, was intended as a teaching aid for Bible study or Sunday Schoolers, and used actual photographs of contemporary Palestine, capturing the scenery and life in the region at that time. The author of the booklet, Forbush, writes that the photographs aim to put the student 'in the very atmosphere of the places where that [biblical] history was enacted'. The maps in the accompanying book are marked with printed red lines which reference the photographs, indicating the viewpoints. The stereoviews - documenting actual locations and local people- the original box, the book and the Underwood & Underwood viewer make this a very rare, complete example.