[London: Day & Son, 1842-1849]. Tinted lithograph by Louis Haghe, coloured by hand.
Dimensions: Image size (including text): 12.5" x 18.5" ; matted and framed, 17" x 24"
David Roberts' monumental works on the Middle East: 'The Holy Land' and 'Egypt & Nubia', considered the greatest lithographically illustrated works issued in the 19th century. Roberts' masterpiece was issued in 41 parts over seven years in three states; tinted, tinted proof and in its finest form (as with the present image), coloured and mounted on card. It is beautifully lithographed by Louis Haghe, to whom Roberts paid tribute in glowing terms, `Haghe has not only surpassed himself, but all that has hitherto been done of a similar nature. He has rendered the views in a style clear, simple and unlaboured, with a masterly vigour and boldness which none but a painter like him could have transferred to stone'. Abbey regarded the work as `one of the most important and elaborate ventures of nineteenth-century publishing, and...the apotheosis of the tinted lithograph'.