MAPS, PLANS, VIEWS, & COINS, ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE TRAVELS OF ANACHARSIS IN GREECE 1806 FOURTH EDITION

[BARTHELEMY, Abbe (Jean-Jacques); Anacharsis the Younger]. Maps, Plans, Views, and Coins, Illustrative of the Travels of Anacharsis the Younger, in Greece, During the Middle of the Fourth Century, Before the Christian Aera. London: Published by J. Johnson, W. J. and J. Richardson, T. Payne, (and others), 1806.

The fourth edition; leather-bound; hardcover; quarto (28cm x 22cm x 2.5cm); pp. vii, [1], 112 + plates; English text; bound in contemporary full speckled calf, smooth spine gilt; initial and terminal blanks plus half-title present; illustrated with a portrait frontispiece and 39 plates - plate 1 not present as issued, plate 13 miss-numbered 11, plates 38 & 39 bound out of sequence, followed by an additional plate depicting two pediments from the Parthenon, plates 2 (folding map), 7, 11, 20, 25, 26, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, & 34, with some hand-coloured borders or roads. Provenance: Reginald J. Saville's armorial bookplate to front pastedown. Condition: GOOD. Binding tight and secure, some mild rubbing to boards and extremities, couple of minor abrasions to upper board. Contents complete and generally well-preserved; although, a few leaves show some light staining, mostly marginal, one textual leaf with a small hole in the margin not touching text; previous owner signature neatly inked to front endpapers.

Notes: Fourth edition in English of Jean-Jacques Barthelemy’s masterful work on the history and customs of ancient Greece, with numerous folding maps, plans, views and coins, some hand-coloured. Plates include maps and views of Athens, the Parthenon, Delphi, Corinthia, Olympia, the Cyclades, Sparta, and Arcadia. Bound in handsome contemporary full calf and remaining in good condition. French writer and numismatist Jean-Jacques Barthelemy worked as the Keeper of the Royal Collection of Metals in the Cabinet of the King of France prior to and throughout the French Revolution. His most famous work, Travels of Anacharsis the Younger, offers a vivid description of the manners and customs of ancient Greece as told through the travels of a young Scythian man descended from the philosopher of the same name.