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3 volumes. First Edition in the quarto format. Illustrated with 250 tinted lithographed plates, some with hand colouring, transferred to stone by Louis Haghe, the Royal Lithographer, after the drawings of David Roberts, including a portrait of Roberts, maps, and six title-page vignettes on six lithographed title-pages and lists of illustrations are included, collated complete. The plates took one year to produce with the first plates being printed in December, 1855 and the last being printed in December, 1856. A remarkable accomplishment by artist, lithographer and publisher. 4to, bound in three-quarter red morocco, gilt extra, the spines with raised bands, the compartments beautifully decorated with elaborate gilt tooling and designs. A very handsome and well preserved set, and internally a very clean set, the plates all in quite excellent condition, occasionally, some plates with some foxing as is typical, to the white area of the plate not affecting the image, the text-blocks clean and bright as well, bindings show a bit of age but remain quite handsome, Vol.II with evidence of an old water stain to a portion of the cloth only on the upper cover, a bit of offsetting to the endleaves. Still a well preserved and pleasing set. FIRST QUARTO EDITION OF THIS REVERED WORK. CONSIDERED BY MOST EXPERTS AS THE FINEST ILLUSTRATED TRAVEL BOOK OF THE 19TH CENTURY AND A REMARKABLE ACCOMPLISHMENT IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH PRINTING. In the course of two and a half months in 1838, travelling some 800 miles south from Cairo, Roberts recorded the monumental temple sites along the Nile in more than a hundred sketches. As he says in his preface, "I may not have done them justice, but few artists of my standing could afford more time, and I daresay few could have produced more in the same number of days." As the first British artist to sketch the monuments of Ancient Egypt, set on "Plains so vast.that, until you come near them, you have no idea of their magnificence," Roberts was well aware of the stir his drawings would create in London. According to John Ruskin, writing in PRAETERITA, Roberts's drawings "were the first studies ever made conscientiously by an English painter, not to exhibit his own skill, but to give true portraiture of scenes of historical and religious interest." Roberts was trained in theatrical scene-painting, and along with Abbey, one feels that "the colossal subjects and broad vistas were ideally suited to Roberts's talent." One of the most desirable of all travel and plate books, this first edition set is a cornerstone work of English illustration and travel into the Middle East and the Holy Land in the 19th Century. Seller Inventory # 30603
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