Quantitative near-infrared absorption spectroscopy of water-vapour overtone and combination bands at high pressures is complicated by pressure broadening and shifting of individual lines and the blending of neighbouring transitions. An experimental and computational methodology is developed to determine accurate high-pressure absorption spectra. This case study investigates two water-vapour transitions, one near 1388 nm ( 7203.9 cm(-1)) and the other near 1345 nm ( 7435.6 cm(-1)), for potential two-line absorption measurements of temperature in the range of 400-1050 K with a pressure varying from 5-25 atm. The required quantitative spectroscopy data ( line strength, collisional broadening, and pressure-induced frequency shift) of the target transitions and their neighbours ( a total of four H2O vapour transitions near 1388 nm and six transitions near 1345 nm) are measured in neat H2O vapour, H2O-air and H2O-CO2 mixtures as a function of temperature ( 296-1000 K) at low pressures (< 800 Torr). Precise values of the line strength S( T), pressure-broadening coefficients gamma(air)( T) and gamma(CO2)( T), and pressure-shift coefficients delta(air)( T) and delta(CO2)( T) for the ten transitions were inferred from the measured spectra and compared with data from HITRAN 2004. A hybrid spectroscopic database was constructed by modifying HITRAN 2004 to incorporate these values for simulation of water-vapour-absorption spectra at high pressures. Simulations using this hybrid database are in good agreement with high pressure experiments and demonstrate that data collected at modest pressures can be used to simulate high-pressure absorption spectra.