A sketch book by Filippo Vassallo

Abstract

A sketch book by Filippo Vassallo is a primary source for late nineteenth-century documentation of archaeological sites in the Maltese Islands. Other than revealing the documentation process behind the first plan of St Paul’s Catacombs (Malta), the extensive use of surveying and the attention for detail make the sketch book an important witness to the evolving contemporary Maltese recording of archaeological finds. It also throws light on how A. A. Caruana’s 1898 book on Maltese ancient burial sites was put together.