Beschreibung:

JohannHermann von RIEDESEL, "Remarques dun voyageur Moderne au Levant", Amsterdam, 1773. First and only edition of one of the rarest and important travel accounts for Greece. 8vo, pp.348. Complete. Contemporary leather over boards, spine richly decorated in gilt. A fine and clean copy. Von Riedesel (17401784) a German diplomat and traveller, visited Greece and the Levant in 1768. Although he was German, he wrote in his account French, following the language trends of the educated people of his time. He describes precisely the Greek society under Ottoman rule, focusing on Athens and the islands of the Archipelago. Unlike the most of the travellers of that period, his interests were not limited to the antiquities, but on the contrary he also focuses on the every day life, the people, the customs & the ceremonies. In one chapter he attempts a comparison of the modern and ancient Greeks. He also describes the Turks, their religion, manners and characteristics. Constantinople is vividly presented, as the multinational administration and political center of a declined Empire. Very important and valuable source. Rare. Not in Atabey, Blackmer or any other known collection.