DAVID ROBERTS

The Scottish artist, David Roberts (1796-1864) was the first British artist to sketch the fantastic monuments of ancient Egypt. In the course of two and a half months in 1838, travelling some 800 miles south from Cairo, David Roberts recorded the monumental temple sites along the Nile in more than a hundred sketches.

In 1839 he undertook the second part of his journey, leaving Cairo in the company of two friends, travelling through Suez, Mount Sinai and Petra, and continuing on up through the Holy Land and into modern day Lebanon. Having visited the most remarkable places from Dan to Beersheba, he finally returned home after some eleven months.

Upon his return, David Roberts submitted his drawings to F.G Moon in London, an enterprising publisher, who arranged for Roberts to superintend their reproduction into lithographs, a task entrusted to a Louis Hague. Preparing the plates for production took almost eight years.

Louis Hague's skill and delicate lithography and dramatic sense, combine in what are undoubtedly remarkable examples of lithographic work. The fruits of David Roberts's work have a worldwide reputation that nothing can bear comparison to.

Today in modern Egypt, Roberts's work can be found on postcards, books, greetings cards, and many other publications. Original hand coloured individual lithographs from the first public edition by F.G Moon and Son Ltd now sell for literally hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of pounds to collectors.

YESTERDAY AND TODAY: The Holy Land, and YESTERDAY AND TODAY: Egypt. Both these books contain full reproductions of the six volumes of the folio editions from his travels in 1838 all through Egypt and the Holy Land published by F G Moon between 1842 - 1849. Includes contemporary photographs so you can compare the sketch with the present day view, and entries from his diary. Click the recommended reading button for more information!

If you are a collector of David Roberts lithographs of Egypt and the Holy Land, then you may be interested to know that we have a large selection of Day & Son smaller edition lithographs (pictured top row) available for sale. Published in 1855, these smaller editions are available unframed and unmounted in both full and half sized plates (as are the folio editions) and have a natural colour wash. Many scenes are currently available and these small lithographs are reasonably priced in comparison to the folio editions. Please contact us for details.