The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “travelogue of 19th-century palestine and the magnum opus of painter david roberts”. Today it says “travelogue of palestine and the wider middle east”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Travelogue of 19th century Israel by painter David Roberts”. It now reads “19th-century travelogue by painter David Roberts”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2020
The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia was a travelogue of 19th-century Palestine and the magnum opus of painter David Roberts .1 It contained 250 lithographs by Louis Haghe of Roberts's watercolor sketches. It was first published by subscription between 1842 and 1849, in two separate publications: The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea and Arabia and Egypt and Nubia . William Brockedon and George Croly wrote much of the text, Croly writing the historical, and Brockedon the descriptive portions. Described as "one of the art-publishing sensations of the mid-Victorian period", it exceeded all other earlier lithographic projects in scale, and was one of the most expensive publications of the nineteenth century.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 961928956.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
19th century travelogue by painter David Roberts The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia is a travelogue of 19th-century Palestine and the magnum opus of Scottish painter David Roberts . It contains 250 lithographs by Louis Haghe of Roberts's watercolor sketches. It was first published by subscription between 1842 and 1849, in two separate publications: The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea and Arabia and Egypt and Nubia . William Brockedon and George Croly wrote much of the text, Croly writing the historical, and Brockedon the descriptive portions. Described as "one of the art-publishing sensations of the mid-Victorian period", it exceeded all other earlier lithographic projects in scale, and was one of the most expensive publications of the nineteenth century.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178124595.
The opening as it stood in 2025
19th century travelogue by painter David Roberts The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia is a travelogue and the magnum opus of Scottish painter David Roberts . It contains 250 lithographs by Louis Haghe of Roberts's watercolor sketches. It was first published by subscription between 1842 and 1849, in two separate publications: The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea and Arabia and Egypt and Nubia . William Brockedon and George Croly wrote much of the text, Croly writing the historical, and Brockedon the descriptive portions. Described as "one of the art-publishing sensations of the mid-Victorian period", it exceeded all other earlier lithographic projects in scale, and was one of the most expensive publications of the nineteenth century. Haghe has been described by the Metropolitan Museum of Art as "the best and most prolific lithographer of the time".The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain : Volume 6, 1830–1914 .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1247867189. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “travelogue of 19th-century palestine and the magnum opus of painter david roberts”. Today it says “travelogue of palestine and the wider middle east”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Travelogue of 19th century Israel by painter David Roberts”. It now reads “19th-century travelogue by painter David Roberts”. Read the current article and compare.
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2020, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
travelogue of 19th-century palestine and the magnum opus of painter david roberts
Now
travelogue of palestine and the wider middle east
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
