SCHUMACHER, Gottlieb. Abila of the Decapolis. London, Palestine Exploration Fund, 1889.
8vo. Original illustrated wrappers; pp. vi, [7]-51, folding frontispiece plan, wood-engraved illustrations in the text; contained in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund, July, 1889; spine of wrappers a little chipped, otherwise fine.
First edition of this archaeological examination of the ancient settlement in the north eastern corner of modern Jordan. Following his engineering studies in Stuttgart Schumacher worked as the chief engineer of the Province of Akko, in which position he was responsible for the design of many buidings and civil engineering projects, including the Damascus-Haifa railway. His outstanding achievement was the survey of Golan, Ajlun and the Hauran, supported by the Palestine Exploration Fund, founded in 1865, the oldest exploration society of the Levant, who hold him in such high esteem that their logo is a reproduction of the gilt-stamped vignette on the front cover of Schumacher's later Northern 'Ajlûn.
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