Lot Details
Lot 94
ROBERTS, DAVID The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia... London: F.G. Moon, 1842-9. First edition, the tinted issue. Three vol...
... London: F.G. Moon, 1842-9. First edition, the tinted issue. Three volumes bound as two, three-quarters morocco, cloth sides with the armorial badge of Jerusalem, all edges gilt. 24 1/4 x 16 5/8 inches (61.4 x 42.7 cm); portrait of Roberts, vii, 30 pp.; three lithographed titles (that for the third volume bound at the end of the second volume), 124 plates in all (including the titles and portrait) with accompanying text i.e. all plates as called for by Abbey, with the map bound next to the volume III title at the end of the second volume, each plate retaining its protective tissue. Light external wear, some rubbing to spines, the hinges professionally reinforced with cloth. Within, a little occasional spotting, but generally a very clean and attractive copy internally, with old ownership stamps of a theological seminary on the first two titles (otherwise unmarked).
According to Abbey, Roberts' monumental work "was one of the most important and elaborate ventures of nineteenth-century publishing, and it was the apotheosis of the tinted-lithograph." David Roberts (1796-1864) toured the Holy Land and Egypt from August 1838 until late 1839, sketching sites in Sinai, Lebanon, Nubia and other locations. Of particular beauty are the series of plates depicting Petra, Baalbec, and biblical sites. The plates illustrating the text are the work of master lithographer Louis Haghe and are a major achievement at the high point of the medium, and this is among the most desirable of Holy Land plate books. Abbey Travel 385; Tooley 401.
C
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