Earliest issue of one of the greatest of 19th-century illustrated books. Roberts' Holy Land, was one of the most elaborate ventures of 19th-century publishing, providing the most comprehensive series of views of the monuments, landscape, and people of the region. It is one of the greatest illustrated books published in the nineteenth century. This copy is from the earliest issue before the map and the titlepage for the third volume were produced in 1849.

David Roberts arrived in Cairo in September 1838. He crossed the desert by way of Suez, Mount Sinai, and Petra, to Gaza and Jerusalem accompanied by tribes of Bedouins, friends and guides. He later visited the Dead Sea, the Lake of Tiberias, Lebanon, and the ruins of Baalbek. Returning to England in late 1839, he sought a publisher willing to produce a lavish edition of his views. Rejected by the Finden Brothers and by John Murray, he signed a contract with Francis Moon in 1840. He and Moon shrewdly promoted their project by organising a private viewing of Roberts' watercolours and drawings for Queen Victoria, the Archbishop of Canterbury and other influential people who immediately subscribed. They mounted public exhibitions of some travel sketches in many British cities, and the favourable press notices attracted additional subscriptions, amounting to nearly double what the project required.

First edition, first issue; 2 vols, folio; 2 lithographic titlepages (as issued) & 120 lithograph plates by Louis Haghe after David Roberts (60 full-page), lithographic portrait of Roberts by C. Baugniet on india paper, the half-page plates with descriptive text below image, occasional light spotting, but generally very clean; contemporary French morocco-backed cloth gilt, top edge gilt, corners bumped, a very good set.

Abbey Travel, 385; cf. Blackmer 1432.