The Land and the Book

The Land and the Book; Or, Biblical Illustrations Drawn from the Manners and Customs, the Scenes and Scenery of the Holy Land is a 19th-century travelogue of Palestine and biblical travel narrative by the American Protestant missionary William McClure Thomson. First published in 1859, the work combines travel description, ethnographic observation, and biblical commentary based on Thomson’s travels in Ottoman-era Syria and Palestine. Written for a broad lay audience rather than academic specialists, it was one of the most widely read English-language books about the Holy Land in the latter half of the 19th century.

The book was published in two volumes, with more than 1,100 pages and 200 illustrations. It sold more than 200,000 copies.