[Rarebooks] FS: Roberts THE HOLY LAND, 1855, with 250 superb tinted lithographs

[Charles Agvent]

 From our new catalog of 61 fine items in a variety of fields, now 
available on our website: 
http://www.charlesagvent.com/agvent/images/pdfs/Winter2017.pdf

ROBERTS, David. THE HOLY LAND, SYRIA, IDUMEA, ARABIA, EGYPT & NUBIA. / 
AFTER LITHOGRAPHS BY LOUIS HAGHE FROM DRAWINGS MADE ON THE SPOT. London: 
Day & Son, 1855. First Quarto Edition. With Historical Descriptions by 
The Revd. George Croly. Six quarto (8-1/4" x 12") volumes bound in three 
in later half red morocco leather with matching corners and 
gilt-lettered and decorated spines. Complete with 250 tinted lithographs 
including the frontispiece portrait of David Roberts in the first 
volume, a frontispiece of the temple at Abu Simbel and the map of his 
tour in the second, as well as all 6 lithographed title pages and print 
lists at the opening of each volume. In 1838 Roberts traveled to Egypt, 
which had grown popular both as a travel destination for the adventurous 
antiquarian, and as the subject of highly valued artworks. The journey 
became an extensive tour of the region, including Jerusalem, Petra (in 
modern Jordan), Giza, Thebes and various sites along the Nile. During 
this trip, he constantly sketched stunning views of colossal ruins, 
ancient temples of the Egyptian and Persian empires, and particularly 
biblical sites in and around Jerusalem. His sketches also depicted the 
local customs, clothes and contemporary dwellings, markets and palaces, 
and the third published volume (the first half of the second volume in 
this set) includes a scene depicting his meeting with Muhammad Ali Pasha 
in Alexandria, which he did not sketch at the time but is reputed to 
have produced from memory. Upon his return to Britain, after he was 
fêted by high society in Scotland, he worked with the engraver Louis 
Haghe to produce the collection in book form, funded by subscriber which 
he personally solicited. Thanks to the popularity of the subject matter, 
and the relative absence of British art on the same subject, he was 
quite successful, with Queen Victoria as subscriber number one (her 
large paper folio copy is still in the Royal Collection.) Louis Haghe, 
along with William Day, was a Lithographer to the Queen and innovator in 
the process of colour lithography, and the lithographs in this volume 
benefit from his skill. Some foxing, heaviest on the titles and initial 
leaves, occasionally to the margins of the plates but rarely affecting 
the images. Public library bookplate with small ink stamps at various 
places throughout, sometimes in the margins of the plates but never on 
the images. Hinges repaired with new paste-downs, general scuffing and 
wear along spine edges but bindings still tight. Very Good. (#018398)    
     $6,500.00

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