American Missionary to the Holy Land.- Fisk (Pliny, Pioneer of the Near East mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 1792-1825) [Diary and Work on Meditation written at Andover Theological Seminary], 2 autograph manuscripts, together 60pp., folds, foxed and browned, unbound, stitched as issued, sm. 4to & sm. 8vo, 1814, 1816-20.

⁂ Fisk graduated from Andover Theological Seminary in 1818. After ordination, he served briefly as agent of the ABCFM in Georgia. With Levi Parsons he embarked on November 3, 1819, on the first American mission to the Near East, with the primary aim of converting the Jews of Palestine, widely believed to be a necessary preliminary to the millennial age of Christ's reign on earth. First based at Smyrna, they soon moved to Scio, where they studied modern Greek and published and distributed a tract made up of evangelical passages from Chrysostom. After returning to Smyrna they toured Asia Minor. When Parsons went on to Jerusalem in December 1820, Fisk remained in Smyrna and for a year was acting British chaplain there, preaching and distributing literature. After Parson's death at Alexandria in February 1822, Fisk went to Malta and was joined by Jonas King. They toured Upper Egypt, crossed the Sinai Desert, and reached Jerusalem before the end of the year. There were troubles with the authorities, instigated by Latin Catholics and Maronite and Syrian patriarchs who disliked these "Bible-men." In the summer of 1824, Fisk and King toured the major centres of Syria, then returned to Beirut and Jerusalem. In the spring of 1825 Fisk returned to Beirut where he died in October, having nearly completed an Arab and English dictionary.