Entdeckter Jüdischer Baldober, oder Sachsen–Coburgische acta criminalia, [by Paul Nicolaus Einert]. Coburg: Georg Otto, 1758. German.
"Jewish Bandleader Captured", book by Paul Nicolaus Einert (published anonymously). The book Includes three engraved plates, two of which show handcuffed Jewish criminals: Mendel Carbe and Hoyum Moyses.
The author Einert headed the investigation leading to the arrest of a band of robbers, most of whose members were Jews, captured in the 1730s in Coburg, Bavaria (Germany).

The bandleader ("Baldober") was the Jew Mendel Garbe or Carben, following whose arrest many other band members were captured, almost all of them Jewish. The band was responsible for a long series of robberies in various parts of the country. After the investigation was completed and the band members convicted, Einert published this book with the aim of "exposing many heretofore unknown crimes and robberies carried out by Jews". Einert used the affair to disseminate a book of anti–Semitic accusations based on two assumptions: first, that solidarity exists between all Jews, whether criminal or not, making the entire Jewish people accomplices to crime; second, that the motivation of Jewish criminals to commit crimes is not just greed and the desire for profit, but also the desire to harm Christians and Christianity.

[7] leaves, 600 pages + [3] engraved plates. Approx. 21.5 cm. Good condition. Stains, including minor ink stains. Title–page and frontispiece attached with non–acidic tape. Pen inscription inside front board. Card binding, with parchment corners and spine. Stains, wear and abrasions to binding. Open tear to bottom of spine. Pen inscription on spine. Remnants of card spine pasted on spine. 

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, NHB.169.

Petri Bellonii Cenomani Plurimarum singularium & memorabilium rerum in Graecia, Asia, Aegypto, India, Arabia [Petrus Belonius… Observations of Many Singularities and Memorable Items in Greece, Asia, Egypt, India, Arabia…]. Antwerp: C. Plantini, 1589. Latin.
Latin translation of the work known as "Observations", by the French naturalist Pierre Belon, first published in French in 1553. The work describes Belon's ethnographic, botanical and zoological studies, which he conducted during his travels through Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, and Judea, between 1546 and 1549. Many in–text woodcuts, illustrate Belon's study observations and results. Printed and bound with another work by Belon, pertaining to the chicory plant.

Pierre Belon (1517–1564), French scientist and traveler, leading naturalist in his times, father of comparative anatomy. Belon was one of the first Europeans to study the flora and fauna of the Near East, and made great contributions to the development of the sciences of botany, ornithology (study of birds) and ichthyology (study of fish). Belon was one of the first researchers to incorporate illustrations in his scientific works.

[8], 495; [87] pages (slightly mispaginated). Approx. 17.5 cm. Good condition. Stains, including dampstains. Minor tears to a few leaves at beginning of volume. Many inscriptions to leaves and inside binding (in Latin characters). Several detached leaves. Fine leather binding, worn and rubbed. Abrasions to binding edges. Minor tears to spine.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, NHB. 372.

Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum et Syriacum, by Johannes Cotovicus. Antwerp: Hieronymous Verdussiun, 1619. Latin. Two parts in one volume. First edition.

Account of the journey by Johannes Cotovicus (doctor of laws at the Utrecht University) to Jerusalem and Syria (through Crete and Cyprus). Cotovicus, who visited Palestine in 1598, was the first to copy tombstone inscriptions and wall inscriptions from Jerusalem (some were later destroyed).
The book contains three engraved plates and more than 50 in-text engravings, including maps, plans and illustrations depicting Jerusalem (view of the city, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Mount of Olives, and more), Jaffa, Rhodes, Cyprus, and other sites. Incomplete copy, lacking four folding text plates.

[17] leaves, 518 pages, [9] leaves + [3] engraved plates and [1] folding text plate (of five). Good condition. Some creases and stains. Minor worming. Several detached leaves with marginal tears. Tear to folding plate, repaired with tape. Parchment binding, slightly damaged.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, NHB. 378.

Viaggio da Venezia al S. Sepolcro, e al monte Sinai [Journey from Venice to the Church of the Sepulcher and Mount Sinai], by Noe Bianco. Lucca (Italy): Domenico Marescandoli, [ca. 1700]. Italian.
Guide for pilgrims to the Holy Land with instructions and advice for the pilgrims; description of the Christian holy sites, table of distances between the various sites, and more. Accompanied by numerous in-text woodcuts, including woodcuts depicting Jerusalem, the Temple, Bethlehem, Jericho, Nazareth and more.
192 pages. 15 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Marginal tears and open tears to a few leaves, mostly repaired with tape (with minimal damage to text). New parchment binding with decorative endpapers, slightly worn.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, NHB.369.

“Theatrum Terrae Sanctae et Biblicarum Historiarum” by Christian van Adrichem. Cologne: Birckmannica, 1628 (print details on colophon). Latin.
Influential work by the Catholic priest and theologian Christian van Adrichem (1533–1585).

The work is widely regarded as one of the most important geographical pieces of literature on the Holy Land in recent history. The book, which took close to thirty years to compile, was only published posthumously, after its author had died. It was a groundbreaking achievement, laying the groundwork for mapmaking related to the Holy Land for roughly the next two centuries. The book comprises a dozen engraved maps, including nine maps laying out the territorial boundaries of the Twelve Tribes of Israel; a map of the Paran Desert (indicating the various way stations where the Children of Israel camped in the course of their travels from Egypt to the Promised Land); and two larger (folded) maps of particular significance, namely a map of Jerusalem, showing locations of the various gates and the well–known sites, as well as the earliest indication of its kind of the Via Dolorosa’s Fourteen Stations of the Cross; and a full map of the Holy Land, several different variations of which were published shortly thereafter by some of the most influential cartographers, such as Thomas Fuller, Nicolaes Visscher, Jan Jansson, and others. In the present copy, the right half of the map of the Holy Land is missing.

[5] ff., 286 pp., [15] ff. + [1] title page engraving and [12] engraved plates, approx. 37.5 cm. Good condition. Half of map of Holy Land (one of the two plates that make up the map) missing. Stains and wear. Minor worming holes to some leaves. Several notations in ink. Several engraved plates with tears to edges and to length of fold lines (some reinforced with strips of paper glued onto back). Binding with leather spine and corners, somewhat worn.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, NHB.410.