David Roberts volumes to be auctioned

http://living.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=976602006

Inspired by an upcoming auction that will sell three of David Roberts's wonderful volumes of illustrations, this article delves into the life of the painter:

"It was to be a book like no other: bigger, more beautifully bound, more lavishly illustrated. But the man behind the world's most expensive travel book was no gentleman adventurer. He was a painter and decorator from Edinburgh with a big talent, and an even bigger ambition.
David Roberts travelled through the Middle East in the 1830s when such journeys were virtually unknown, sketching as he went. He published his work, The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia, in six immense, folio-sized volumes. Three of these volumes, covering the Holy Land and the surrounding area, bound in two magnificent books, will be auctioned at Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh on Tuesday. Valued at between £8,000 and £12,000, these books are increasingly rare . . . .

But this is more than the story of a book. It's the rags-to-riches story of a shoemaker's son from Stockbridge who became one of the best-known artists of his generation."

See the above article for the full story, which is well worth reading if you are interested in the painter.

The volumes will be auctioned at Lyon & Turnbull in a Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps and Photographs sale, on Tuesday, 11 July.
www.lyonandturnbull.com

To see some examples of David Roberts's work, go to:

http://www.rosicrucians.org/salon/d_roberts/d_roberts.html