Anacharsis Atlas.

Barthelemy, J.J, (Abbe) Atlas to the "Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece." Recuil de Cartes géographiques, plans vues et medailles de L'Ancienne Grèce, relatifs au Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis en Grèce, précédé d'une analyse critiques des cartes. Paris de l'Imprimerie de Didot le Jeune L'An Septième [1798-9]
Folio; 56+1 and 39 copper engraved plates. Half calf over marbled boards; 4 raised bands;labels in black and gilt.; Marbled end papers.
Atlas to accompany Barthelemy's famous Voyage du jeune Anarcharsis en Grèce, first published in 1787. Nouvelle Edition.
The atlas volume in large folio does NOT includes the large folding map Carte Générale de la Grèce et d'une grande partie de ses colonies..by Barbie de Bocage, called for in the list of contents. The new map was originally intended to appear in this edition of An VII [1798-9] but as Bocage mentions in his Addition critique des cartes de l'Ancienne Grèce [1811] there were "difficulties du libraire"; the map was finally ready in 1811 and did not appear till the 5th edition of 1817.
Starts with plate 2 the double page map of the same title. Double page map of Greece and 11 maps of parts of Greece with outline colour; 15 maps and plans of ancient Greek sites and battles in black and white, including Marathon,Thermopylea and Salamis, also the Bosphorus, Hellespont and Black Sea..
Architectural restorations of ancient temples, floor plans of buildings and copper engraved views of the Parthenon, Thesion, Sunium and Delphi. A plate of coins with page of explanation. Unfolded single page plates, with good margins Joints rubbed.; corners bumped.
Front free endpapers with some spotting but plates generally very clean and bright throughout, though there is a damp stain to lower gutter, it is mainly far from image.

Jean-Jacques Barthélemy 1716 – 1795) was a French writer and numismatist.
Barthélemy was the author of a number of learned works on antiquarian subjects, but the great work on which his fame rests is Voyage du jeune Anarcharsis en Grèce, first published in 1787. He had begun it in 1757 and had been working on it for thirty years. The hero, a young Scythian descended from the famous philosopher Anacharsis, is supposed to repair to Greece for instruction in his early youth, and after making the tour of her republics, colonies and islands, to return to his native country and write this book in his old age, after the Macedonian hero had overturned the Persian empire. In the manner of modern travellers, he gives an account of the customs, government, and antiquities of the country he is supposed to have visited. A copious introduction supplies whatever may be wanting in respect to historical details, while various dissertations on the music of the Greeks, on the literature of the Athenians, and on the economy, pursuits, ruling passions, manners, and customs of the surrounding states supply ample information on the subjects of which they treat.
Modern scholarship has superseded most of the details in the Voyage, but the author himself did not imagine his book to be a register of accurately ascertained facts. Rather, he intended to afford to his countrymen, in an interesting form, some knowledge of Greek civilization.

Jean Jacques Barthélemy (1716-1795), also known as Abbé Barthélemy, was born into a well-to-do family in the South of France. Literatus, numismatist and author, he studied Philosophy, Theology and Classical Archaeology. Following a journey to Italy, he was inspired to write a novel whose main character is a young Scythian who wanders through the ancient Greek world of the fourth century BC, with flashbacks to the Archaic and Classical periods.

Barthélemy started studying and writing on Antiquity in 1757 and his first book was published in 1788. He died at the age of 80, while working on the fourth edition of this remarkable literary work.

Abbé Barthélemy studied the works of Greek and Roman authors and meticulously annotated on his maps the information he extracted. He relied too on the well-documented investigations that J. Foucherot and M.G.F.A. Choiseul-Gouffier had made on the spot, thus complementing his fictional work with accurate representations of the most important locations and battlefields.

This multi-volume work – both a fictional recreation of an era and a travel narrative presenting an idyllic panorama of the ancient world, illustrated with maps and drawings by Barbié de Bocage – fuelled the public's interest in ancient scholarship. Thus it became a best-seller of the time, and was republished repeatedly into the nineteenth century.
[ Ioli Vingopoulou;Travelogues Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation]
Brunet:1,674-675; not in Zacharakis, but see note under Barbie de Bocage. 480 by 310mm (19 by 12¼ inches).   ref: 3001  €1000