Ottoman Athens
“GUILLETIERE, Sieur de la” [pseudonym of Georges GUILLET]. Athenes ancienne et nouvelle, et l'estat present de l'empire des Turcs, contenant va vie du sultan Mahomet IV … Troisième edition, augmentée en plusieurs endroits sur les Memoires de l'Autheur. Paris: Estienne Michallet. 1676.
Small 8vo. Contemporary full vellum, title in ink to spine; pp. [xxiv], 456, [34], with folding engraved plate of a Greek theatre and the frequently missing folding engraved plan of Athens (repairs with conservation tape); covers a little soiled with abrasion to lower one; variable light spotting and even toning, occasional damp stain, final leaf with marginal paperflaw touching the last line of the privilege.
Third, expanded edition of Guillet’s rare work on Athens under Ottoman rule.
Georges Guillet (1624-1705), “Guillet de Saint- George”, was a French writer and historiographer, perhaps best known for Les arts de l’homme d’épée, ou dictionnaire du gentilhomme (1678). This rare account of Athens is presented as a series of letters purportedly sent by the author’s brother from the city, a literary fiction that conceals Guillet’s role as a careful compiler of first-hand information. Much of the material was supplied by Jean Giraud, the French consul in Athens, while the plan of the city was provided by the resident Capuchin monks. As a result, “Guillet’s account did contain information on the contemporary state of the city and he very much emphasized the need to compare the ancient and modern cultures” (Blackmer).
Seventeenth-century Athens was a minor provincial town of the Ottoman Empire and rarely visited by Western travellers. Contemporary descriptions of the sparsely populated city are therefore uncommon, making this work an important source for the study of early modern Athens.
Atabey 539; Blackmer 766.
SKU: 2101953