printed in Athens

Dedicated to King Otho, first King of Greece, this is one of the first books describing ancient Athens to be printed in Athens itself.

Kyriákos Pittákis was a pupil of Louis-François-Sébastien Fauvel, the French consul, who introduced him to archaeology. In 1837 he was one of the founders of the Archaeological Society of Athens and was the first archaeological manager of the Athens region. He participated in the restoration of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis and was the first to excavate in Mycenae.

The binding is from the Bauzonnet-Trautz workshop which was one of the leading bookbinderies of nineteenth-century France.

First edition, 8vo (20 x 13 cm), title-page, dedication page, [2] 520 pp., engraved armorial bookplate on front pastedown, discreet numbered label on rear pastedown, decorated endpapers; contemporary purple half calf, mottled boards, gilt lettered and ruled on spine, binder's signature, marbled edges; a fine copy.

Blackmer 1317.