John A. Steinbeck's diary, primarily during the Civil War, handwritten mainly in pencil, leather-bound, over 200pp, [195] 1859-1862

Plainfield N.J. Feb. 18, 1859

I have heard with interest & gratification Mr. Steinbeck’s Lectures upon Palestine, - The Farmers, the governing classes, & the Pilgrims to Jerusalem & the Jordan; & think that they present with clearness & directness statements of permanent value respecting the Holy Land.

The lectures, simple in style, are straightforward & authentic narrative from a trustworthy man, whose residence of nearly 9 years in the country which he describes has qualified him for the task, & from their minuteness & fulness of detail con

vey unusually complete & vivid views of the Land & the People.

I take pleasure in commending Mr. Steinbeck as a Christian man, & as a Lecturer to any with whom I may be acquainted.

J. H. Myers Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Plainfield N.J.

I cheerfully concur in the foregoing expressions of opinion concerning Mr. Steinbeck’s lectures.

E. Dean Don.

Somerville, Somerset County, New Jersey March 8. 1859

Mr. J. A. Steinbeck has delivered three lectures on Palestine in this village. Having heard them all, I commend them to others, as affording a full & graphic account of the desolate condition of the Holy Land, & of the degradation & depravity of its inhabitants. They are calculated also to rouse the mind to examination of the topography of the country, & inquiry into its general features. The identity between present & ancient customs, manners, modes

of agriculture and seems to have been perpetuated, in defiance of infidelity, to attest the genuineness of the sacred record; & to illustrate & to interpret its pages... No one can attentively listen to these lectures without profit, & an enlargement of his Scripture Knowledge. John F Mesick Pastor of the Second Reformed Dutch Church