Roberts, David | The Holy Land, handsomely bound

Roberts, David

The Holy Land. London: F.G. Moon, 1842-1849

Three volumes bound in two, folio (606 x 415 mm). Pictorial titles to each part, list of subscribers, lithographed portrait of Roberts, 60 plates, 60 half-page illustrations, all tinted lithographs by Louis Haghe after David Roberts, engraved map, the text and illustrations not bound in the order given in Abbey; light browning, foxing, generally affecting text and margins of plates, title to Vol III and map heavily spotted. Contemporary plum morocco, covers elaborately gilt with tooled floral borders, spine with raised bands in 8 compartments, second and fourth gild-lettered, others with repeat floral motif in gilt, all edges gilt, inner dentelles gilt, marbled endpapers; extremities rubbed, covers slightly scuffed.

First edition. David Roberts enjoyed wide popularity in his day, but his outstanding success was certainly The Holy Land, and it is on this that the modern appreciation of his work is based. The powerful images fully demonstrate the artist's skillful draughtsmanship and use of dramatic perspective to portray the majesty of what he sees. Roberts' early training as a theatrical set designer is perhaps nowhere so clearly evident. At the time of publication, such dramatic representations of the East had rarely been encountered in the West. Consequently, Roberts' work captivated the public imagination and set the archetypal standard so often imitated by later artists. However, it is not only Roberts' draughtsmanship that sets this work apart from so many others. It is also, as is so often noted, the quality of Day and Haghe's lithography, considered by Abbey to be: "the apotheosis of the tinted lithograph."

Handsomely bound.

REFERENCES

Abbey, Travel 385