These three volumes were among the most splendid, expensive and celebrated travel books published in the 19th century. The set combines 247 lithograph illustrations of the Middle East with detailed descriptions of the sites by William Brockedon and historical background by George Croly. Trained as a watchmaker and painter, Brockedon (1787-1854) was a successful artist, inventor and author of illustrated books that recorded his own extensive travels. A cleric and journalist, Croly published on subjects that ranged from theatre and poetry to theology and politics.

The illustrations drew on the watercolours sketched by David Roberts (1796-1864) during his travels through the Middle East in 1838-39. From humble beginnings as the son of a shoemaker, apprenticed to a house painter, Edinburgh-born David Roberts rose through the ranks of the Society of British Artists to become a Fellow of the Royal Academy. This status gave him more leisure for travel, and he journeyed through Europe and beyond in search for the picturesque. He was the first professional artist to visit the Middle East without a patron or connection to a military expedition. He sailed to Alexandria in August 1838 and travelled up the Nile, through Cairo and Luxor to Abu Simbel. In February 1839, he continued via Suez, Mount Sinai and Petra to Jerusalem, Damascus and Palmyra, ending his 11-month voyage in Lebanon. He filled three sketchbooks with 272 watercolours of people, landscapes, buildings and romantic ruins.

The watercolours formed the basis for the 247 illustrations produced by Louis Haghe (1806-85), the leading lithographer of the time. Specializing in hand-tinted lithographs, Haghe employed a wide range of colours and subtle tonalities to convey the delicate spontaneity of Roberts’s drawings. The beauty and immediate success of the publication made the Roberts-Haghe illustrations the most popular images of the Middle East for a wide audience.

The production of the sumptuous volumes was supported by a long list of distinguished subscribers. This was headed by Queen Victoria who was familiar with Roberts’s work and had acquired his painting of a view in Cairo in 1840.  The publication was dedicated to Her Majesty and this set, bound in burgundy morocco with lavish gold tooling, was most likely the presentation copy.