[TRAVEL & EXPLORATION]. ROBERTS, David (1796-1864). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia. London: Day & Son, 1855-1856.

6 volumes in 3, 4to (291 x 200 mm). 250 tinted lithograph plates finished with hand-coloring, including 6 vignette titles, by Louis Hache after original drawings by Roberts with original tissue guards. (Scattered spotting in margins of some plates, closed marginal tear to portrait in vol. I near gutter.) Publisher's deluxe contemporary blue gilt-stamped morocco, the armorial ensigns of Jerusalem gilt-stamped on boards, gilt-turn ins, all edges gilt. Provenance: Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (booksellers' note laid in; see below).

EXCEPTIONALLY RARE CONTEMPORARY HAND-COLORED COPY OF THE FIRST QUARTO EDITION, of Roberts's monumental visual account on the Holy Land and the Near East. In this set, the normally tinted plates have been finished with contemporary hand-coloring, closely imitating the deluxe coloring of the original folio edition (1842-49).

Howard Radclyffe, former director of Bernard Quaritch Ltd. who handled this copy in the previous century, speculated that the few extant hand-colored examples of this work may have been commissioned by subscribers who preferred the smaller size. Radclyffe indicates that “Coloured copies of the ‘small’ edition of this celebrated work are extremely rare” and that “they were commissioned at the express wishes of subscribers.” Radclyffe rather remarkably affirms that “this is the first [colored] copy to have passed through our hands” (during Quaritch’s first 100 years of existence). And indeed, this offered copy of the book is the only colored copy of which we have found or have seen commercially offered for sale.

Originally issued in 41 folio parts over 7 years, Roberts was 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”. Travelling some 800 miles south from Cairo in 1838, Roberts “recorded the monumental temple sites along the Nile in more than one hundred sketches” (Blackmer). For this elegant quarto set of Roberts's work, the lithographed plates were reduced by photography, allowing for a greater ease of use than the enormous folio edition. In this set, the tinted plates have been finished with hand-coloring, more closely imitating the deluxe coloring of the folios. Abbey, Travel 388; Blackmer 1432.

[TRAVEL & EXPLORATION]. ROBERTS, David (1796-1864). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia. London: Day & Son, 1855-1856.

[TRAVEL & EXPLORATION]. ROBERTS, David (1796-1864). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia. London: Day & Son, 1855-1856.