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First edition. Hard cover, 8vo, in a later fine binding of full aniline died brown calf, the boards tooled in blind with a border consisting of rules, neoclassical pattern, small flowers and corner fleurons. The spine has five slightly raised bands, the compartments gilt with neoclassical motifs and the head and tail rolled with interlocking circles, title onlaid in red morocco label, date of publication tooled at the foot. Board edges, near corners, are tooled with a dot and band pattern. All edges of the text block are marbled. Inside, are matching glazed marbled end papers in green, red, blue and white, highlighted with decorated turn-ins tooled with interlocking fronds of fern or acanthus. Ownership signature to top right of title page, "G.H. Wheler." Handsome hand-colored engraved frontispiece portrait of Mustapha Ali from by the British artist Thomas Charles Wageman, engraved by T.L. Busby. [4], [frontis.],(i-iii), vi-xiii,(ix-x), [1]-308pp. blank, plus six unnumbered letters in facsimile, five of which are fold-out, [4]. Printed by Marchant, Imgram-Court, Fenchurch-Street. **CONDITION: Near Fine. Only a few spots and some surface scuffs affect the aniline dyed boards. No obvious signs of shelfwear and tips remain crisp. Gilt upon spine is bright with minimal wear to finish at head and foot. Joints and hinges in order. Minimal spots of fox to fly leaves. Slight offset to title page from the hand-colored frontispiece, as seen. Text is otherwise very clean and bright and no foxing observed. Facsimiles are in Fine condition. ** CONTENTS: COL. LEICESTER Fitzgerald Charles STANHOPE, (1784-1862) born in Dublin, later Lord Harrington, was a professional military man for most of his career who had previously served in South America, and later in India as deputy quartermaster-general, seeing action in the highly controversial British East India Company's storming of Talneir [Fort Talnar] during the Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1817-18 (DNB and RCT). This volume, however, highlights how Stanhope's professional managerial skills, and grasp of complex international diplomacy made him an an effective representative of the interests of the London Greek Committee's support for Greek independence in the 1820's. Based on the Colonel's correspondence, with many letters being addressed to the Committee's John Bowring (1792-1872), the work is most interesting in Stanhope's description of the the motives behind the various competing international interests, as the Russians and the Italian-occupying Austrians vie to fill the power vacuum pending the foreseen final defeat of the Ottoman despots who had ruled Greece for centuries. Motives of the English government also come in for criticism. Comments on Lord Byron's participation show differences of opinions. As a firsthand account of the democratic ideals which Stanhope and his contemporaries wished for the Greek people, this is also a revealing collection. He corresponds with Jeremy Bentham, who is drafting legislation and a constitution for the new proposed Greek republican monarchy; selections for the new monarch are discussed, with the Prince of Cobourg being deemed "as acceptable as any that could be settled." (p 28); there is discussion Stanhope's consultation with the various regional or national Philhellenic Committees on monetary support, armaments and training of the nascent Greek army; on the leadership qualities of Prince Mavrocordata and contemporaries. More idealistic concerns are for provision of education for the Greek youth, both in Greece and abroad. Provision of presses for the "The Greek Chronicle" and dissemination of letters by Lord Erskine and Lord Byron are planned. In the end, it would take three battles between 1822 and April 10, 1826 at Missolonghi to unseat the Ottomans and their allies from the Greek archipelago.** MUSTAPHA ALI, a ten year old survivor of skirmishes at Argos , is both the subject of the frontis. portrait, and a biographical entry. Capt. Humphries rescued the boy from destitution and later relinquished his care to the Author, Col. Stanhope, who adopted the boy and brought him to be raised in England.**Artist THOMAS CHARLES WAGEMAN (1787-1863), a prolific portraitist and draughtsman whose work is represented in Britain's National Portrait Gallery. He produced a number of illustrations of theater personalities of the early eighteenth century for publishers Sherwood, Jones, & Co. and his work also appeared in various magazines. Engraving by T.L. Busby. (Nat. Portrait Gallery) **PROVENANCE: GRANVILLE HASTINGS WHELER (1701-1770), with his signature to the title page. Perhaps best remembered as a clergyman and amateur scientist who, with his friend Stephen Gray, "conducted experiments with electricity," in imitation of the work of Benjamin Franklin, at his house, Otterden Place, near Charing, Kent. He was later elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1728, publishing his findings on the repulsive power of electricity in "The Philosophical Transactions" of 1729 (DNB). His father, SIR GEORGE WHELER (1650-1723) was yet another (earlier) Enlightenment-era a travel writer on Greece. The elder Wheler, canon of Durham Cathedral, traveled around Greece and the Levant in 1675 and 1676 with fellow travel writer the Frenchman James Spon. Wheler then published "A Journey into Greece" in 1682 (ESTC R9388). It has been said that their seventeenth century travelogues became an important introduction to still relatively unexplored destinations. Wheler's work was translated into French. **Note: the binding is consistent with that of our No. 9678, P. Gamba's " A Narrative of Lord Byron's Last Journey to Greece" (1825), also with Wheler's signature to the title page, but in better condition. Note: This book does not appear in James White's Sale Catalogue of the Rev. Granville Wheler Library of August 1771, and may perhaps have been missed out for some reason, or gone to another relative after Wheler's death. (AMJ)
Ref: GRK 9679
$900.00