78/3164 [Egypt]. Roberts, D. Sketches in Egypt & Nubia with Historical Descriptions by William Brockedon F.R.S. London, F.G. Moon, 1847-1849, 3 parts consisting of 21 installments in 13 vols., 3 tinted lithogr. titles, 1 map, 61 (tinted) lithogr. plates (2x handcol.) and 60 half-p. ills. by L. HAGHE after D. ROBERTS, loose in orig. unif. wr., large folio.

- Some occas. foxing. A few vols. spine splitting (vol. 1 entirely split).

= Gay 2216; Hilmy II, p.176; Blackmer 1432 (note); Abbey, Travel 272; Europe and the Arab World 66. Rare complete set of the Egytian and Nubian section of Roberts' main work usually referred to as The Holy Land, though published separately and to be considered a work in itself. It is arguably one of the most impressive 19th century illustrated works on Egypt. "David Roberts remains the best known British artist to have drawn views of the Near East in the nineteenth century (...). After travelling through France in 1825 he visited Spain in 1832 (...). Six years later he set off for the Near East. He first toured Egypt. After sailing down the Nile, making drawings as he went, he arrived in Cairo in December 1838. There he was one of the first Europeans after Pascal Coste to be given permission to draw the interiors of mosques - a favour he undoubtedly owed to the indulgende of Muhammad Ali, whom he met in Alexandria (...). From 1842 onwards Roberts' views of the Near East, lithographed by the Belgian Louis Haghe, began to appear in a series of editions with historical and descriptive texts by the Irish divine George Croly and the English inventor, painter and author William Brockedon." (Europe and the Arab World). SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE LXXXII.