“The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia, after lithographs by Louise Haghe from drawings made on the spot by David Roberts, R.A.” London: Day & Day, 1855–56. English. Six parts in three volumes.
“The Holy Land, ” monumental work by David Roberts: Copy of the first quarto–format edition. Six parts, including 248 lithographic prints after paintings by Roberts, and two maps (engravings) showing the route of his journey through the Middle East. The prints are accompanied by explanations by George Croly and William Brockedon. The lithographs illustrate buildings, ruins, churches, mosques, cities, landscapes, and holy sites from all parts of the Holy Land, Syria and Lebanon, Transjordan, and Egypt, and serve as documentation for the mission Roberts led in the years 1839–40.
From the standpoint of the print industry, “The Holy Land” represented an unprecedented accomplishment in its time, presenting hundreds of scenes of life in Palestine, printed in full folio size (approx. 60 cm.), created under Roberts’s supervision by some of the most prominent of print artists of that period. The project took almost a decade to complete, and was funded by the work’s pre–purchasers, who included Queen Victoria, the Austrian emperor, the Russian Tsar, the kings of France and Prussia, the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, and others.
The enormous size of the books – as well as the ambitious scope of the work – aroused considerable criticism among many readers, who complained that it was difficult to use and almost impossible to read. The scholar and author Titus Tobler, for instance, protested that "the work is so heavy that in order to deliver it my house, three hours away, the volumes were divided into two separate loads. It was thus possible for me to study this inconvenient thing at leisure. The scholarly world yields no benefit from it" (Titus Tobler, Bibliographia geographica Palaestinae, Leipzig, 1867. p. 229; German). In light of such criticism, the publication house decided to print an additional edition in a smaller, more easily readable format, namely the quatro format. The quarto edition was printed in 1855–1856.
Elegant copy, leatherbound with gilt impressions.
Six parts in six volumes. Volume I: [3] ff., 35 pp., [23] ff. + 1–44 plates; Volume II: [1] f., 3 pp., [22] ff. + 45–87 plates. Volume III: [1] f., 3 pp., [19] ff. + 88–125 plates; Volume IV: [1] f., 9 pp., [22] ff. + 126–68 plates. Volume V: [23] ff. + 169–212 plates; Volume VI: [20] ff. + 213–50 plates. Approx. 29 cm. Good condition. Some stains (prints mostly clean). Minor blemishes. Bookplate (“Charles J. H. Wheatley”) in each volume. Abrasions and blemishes to bindings.
See: Nathan Schur. “Sefer HaNos’im Li’Eretz Yisrael BaMe’a Ha–19,” Keter, Jerusalem, 1988, Hebrew, pp. 129–30.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, No. ALE.3.
