Sacred Streams, or the Rivers of the Bible

The second of Gosse’s books on the Bible lands. 

Happenings in the Old and New Testaments that related to the rivers of Palestine and the neighbouring lands.

After two early British editions in 1850 (published by C. Cox), a USA edition in 1852 (published by Stringer and Townsend) and a second British 1854 edition (Cox), it reappeared over twenty years later on both sides of the Atlantic, published by Hodder and Stoughton, London, and the American Tract Society, New York.

Freeman and Wertheimer list the editions, ending with an edition from 1883, described as ‘The same. Another issue’ of the 1877 new edition revised by the author. The issue in my library is from 1883, but it is not the same.

The 1877 new revised edition is described as having a front board illustration taken from p.193, ‘Source of the Jordan’. The back board is described as having four blind rules, with no illustration, whilst the spine is described as having an illustration taken from p.143, ‘The flamingo’.

However, my 1883 edition differs from the above description in the following ways.

The front board has an illustration taken from p.297, ‘The River Arnon’. The back board has decorative plant design, contained within a central panel. The spine has an illustration taken from p.21, ‘The Euphrates’.

If the entry in the bibliography for the 1883 edition is correct, then Hodder and Stoughton must have published the same internals with two different cases, or the bibliography entry is wrong. Either way, my 1883 edition is not included in the bibliography.

 The front board illustration taken from p.297, ‘The River Arnon’ (see below)

 

 

The spine has an illustration taken from p.21, ‘The Euphrates’ (see below)

A few illustrations are attributed to Whimper, but most are unattributed. I assume that the latter are the work of Gosse. A selection of Gosse's work from the book are included below.