Roberts, David.

First edition, 6 volumes bound in 3, folio (610 x 445mm.), 6 lithographed pictorial titles, portrait, 2 engraved maps and 241 tinted lithographed plates (121 full-page, 120 half-page) by Haghe after Roberts, mounted throughout on linen guards, contemporary half morocco, gilt edges, [Abbey, Travel 385 and 272], spotted, lacking list of subscribers in vol.1, binding rubbed and somewhat worn

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. His powerful images of Baalbec, Petra, Egypt and the Holy Land fully demonstrate the artist's skilful draughtsmanship and use of dramatic perspective to portray the majesty of what he sees. Roberts' early training as a theatrical set designer is 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. Roberts draughtsmanship and the quality of Day and Haghe's lithography combined to make this, in the words of Abbey, "the apotheosis of the tinted lithograph".