Beschreibung:

ROBERTS, DAVID The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia ... [With:] Egypt and Nubia . London: F.G. Moon, 1842-1849. First editions, the tinted issue. Together 6 volumes. Loosely laid into four modern cloth cases, the upper covers of the cases affixed with the pictorial decorations from early (possibly original) publisher's cloth portfolios, the cases stored upright within a custom wooden display stand. The Holy Land: This copy conforms to Abbey's description of the 1842-45 parts issue (ie. Prints in Covers) as it contains the portrait of Roberts, 122 tinted lithographs (as issued without a lithographic title page for vol. III or the map), the text issued without the description of the title-page of volumes II and III, also without the subscribers leaf not present many copies of this issue although not specifically mentioned by Abbey, the text otherwise complete. 24 x 16 5/8 inches (614 x 427 mm); Egypt and Nubia, complete with map, 124 tinted lithographs and all text. 23 3/4 x 16 5/8 inches (610 x 427 mm). A very clean and attractive copy internally but with some foxing to the portrait, titles and some plates (usually the preliminary leaves and plates of a section), occasional chips, stains, or small losses. This copy presumed issued as parts but eventually bound and later disbound as it is neatly trimmed with minimal loss of margin. An attractive copy of an early issue. 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, the The Great Sphinx and pyramids Giza, 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. This copy of The Holy Land conforms to the book's earliest issue in parts (a two volume work rather than three) which was available by 1846, the lithographic title to the third volume and the map added once the entirety of the work, paired with Egypt and Nubia, was completed in 1849. This is further suggested by the remnants of the cloth portfolio covers affixed to the boxes housing the current set (see Sotheby's London, 13 November 2008, , for a copy in parts sold retaining these cloth portfolios). A very clean and early copy of one of the most important travel books of the period. Abbey, Travel 272 & 385; Tooley 401. C