Sketchbook of pen and wash drawings of the principal ancient Greek monuments in and around Athens.

A very unusual sketchbook most likely compiled by a French draughstman as an architectural study of the Greek monuments they saw on their travels. The ruins are shown in their monumentality and decay, in splendid isolation typical for the period, before the sites were excavated.

Judging from the condition of the monuments, we can date the drawings to between 1854 and 1857. The sketchbook itself was likely purchased in Greece, with the drawings applied directly to the pages (i.e. not bound later), and then, on the artist's return to France, the binding was stamped with the title 'ANTIQUITÉS GRECQUES'.

Sketchbooks of Greek sites are much rarer than comparable ones of Italy, partly to do with the Grand Tour or tourist trails stretching as a matter of course to Italy, but much rarer to Greece owing to the dangers and challenges of Mediterranean travel and an apprehension amongst travellers in the decades following the Ottoman occupation.

Oblong 8vo (15.2 x 24 cm); 20 pen and wash (grey and bistre) drawings, heightened with white, (c. 115 x 150 mm), with descriptive ms captions in Greek, leaves slightly toned, occasional spotting to margins, but generally clean and fresh; contemporary brown half sheep over black pebble-grained boards, cover title 'Antiquites Grecques' in gilt, gilt dulled, a little worn and rubbed with some loss to spine, joints cracked but holding, still a lovely example.