Thomas Allom (1804–72), like David Roberts and William H. Bartlett, was one of the great artists to travel to the Near East in the early 1800s. In 1837, Allom traveled and drew for ten months through Constantinople, Bursa, and the Aegean region. In April, 1838, Allom returned to England and spent the months of June and July preparing his work for publication. Rev. Robert Walsh (1772–1852) was commissioned to write the text to accompany Allom’s drawings. Walsh became the Protestant chaplain in Constantinople in 1820. From 1821–24, he traveled extensively throughout Turkey, and in subsequent years published several volumes on Turkey, such as his two-volume Residence at Constantinople during the Greek and Turkish Revolutions. In 1838, Walsh’s classic collaboration with Allom, Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches, was published by Fisher, Son & Co. In subsequent years, Allom’s plates were reused by Fisher in many publications, thus permanently connecting Allom with this period of Ottoman Turkey. The authors’ work on the Seven Churches is also of great interest to New Testament studies. Allom’s scenic portraiture and Walsh’s descriptive commentary are a cultural, historical, and artistic treasure of great interest to contemporary travelers and readers.

Editor Mark Wilson has re-ordered the plates of Constantinople according to their subject and location. The plates of the Seven Churches have also been rearranged to follow their order in the book of Revelation. Seven views of the Seven Churches, published by Allom in Art Journal in 1862, have been added. J. C. M. Bellew (1823-74), a noted author and preacher who himself had visited the Seven Churches, wrote extensive descriptions to accompany Allom’s seven additional scenes. Bellew’s articles have been condensed for this volume.