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David Roberts; Louis Haghe; George Croly : The Holy Land. After Lithographs by Louis Haghe. From Original Drawings by David Roberts, R. A. With Historical Descriptions by The Rev. George Croly, LL. D

Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., London, Paris & New York, n.d. [c. 1889].

Original publisher’s gilt blue cloth, upper board with gilt title and gilt vignette of Jerusalem within a red stamped border of leaves, lower board with blind-stamped leaf motif across middle, flat spine with gilt text and red stamped leaf motifs, all edges gilt, black endpapers. , Exterior and interior in fine condition, text and plates are clean and crisp. A very desirable and fine example of this important work, fully hand coloured., Large 4to. , P. (2), half-title, blank, blank, frontis, title, blank, contents, notice of the journey (3), 21 ff.; half-title, blank, blank, frontis, title, blank, contents, Bethlehem vi-viii, 22 ff.; half-title, blank, blank, frontis, title, blank, contents, Idumea vi-viii, 18 ff., advertisements 1-8, (2)., Titles in red and black inks. Complete with 120 hand-coloured lithographs after drawings by David Roberts., Volume : Three parts in one.

No publishing date given, but publisher’s advertisements are dated 1889.
David Roberts began his painting career as a house painter while ten years old, moving later to scene painting in theatres. It was while scene painting at the Drury Lane Theatre in London that Roberts began exhibiting his work in various notable artistic fora. By 1830 he had left the scene painting trade and began his career as a travel painter. In 1838 he prepared paintings of Egyptian architecture and landscapes from Alexandria to the Nile’s Second Cataract. On his return to Cairo he decided to form a travel party of Europeans dressed as Arabs, and travel by camel to Petra (Idumea) by way of Mount Sinai. From there he traveled throughout the Holy Land depicting lands and monuments sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Poor health caused him to call off the remainder of his trip northward along the Mediterranean coast—he sailed home from Beirut. It was several years before his travels were first published, but the popularity of his costly folio volumes (mid-1840s) spurred the publication of quarto volumes in the 1850s, which ran into several printings including this one.
, Abbey Travel II:385.

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