POUQUEVILLE (François-Charles-Hugues-Laurent). Voyage en Mor - Lot 46

POUQUEVILLE (François-Charles-Hugues-Laurent). Voyage en Morée, à Constantinople, en Albanie, et dans plusieurs autres parties de l'Empire Othoman, pendant les années 1798, 1799, 1800 et 1801. Comprenant la description de ces pays, leurs productions, les mœurs, les usages, les maladies et le commerce de leurs habitans ; avec des rapprochemens entre l'état actuel de la Grèce, et ce qu'elle était dans l'antiquité. A Paris, chez Gabon et Compagnie, libraires, 1805. Three volumes in 2 vols. in-8, [3] f., VII-542 p. + [2] f., XV-287 p., [2] f., XXI-344 p., contemporary marbled havana basane, smooth spine, red title page, green tomaison page, frieze of gilt Greek, fillets, fleurons with urn decorations, 3 gilt fillets or friezes framing the boards, blue speckled edges (restorations to corners, edges and headpieces, mq. of gilding to fleurons ; pt trav. de vers au t.1 sometimes restored, some f. in the process of being restored with japon paper affixed, a few minor text blemishes, scattered spotting). First edition of Pouqueville's first and probably best work on Greece. 6 engraved plates, 4 of them folding, notably the 2 maps drawn by J.D. Barbié du Bocage and engraved by J.B. Tardieu. Prisoner of the Turks from 1798 to 1801, Pouqueville won the trust of the pasha of Tripoli and then that of his master the Sultan thanks to his profession as a physician, and was granted semi-freedom to visit Constantinople and its surroundings. There, he witnessed the terrible oppression suffered by its inhabitants, whose side he gradually took, both intellectually and emotionally, paving the way for philhellenism. Back in France, his knowledge of modern Greek and his status as Napoleon I's diplomatic agent enabled him to deepen his knowledge of Greece and his sympathy for the Greek rebellion, which led to numerous conflicts with the Pasha. His writings influenced the pro-Greek movement, describing the yoke of the Turks and their crimes, as well as the daily life, traditions and archaeological past of the Peloponnese's inhabitants, and their social and economic condition. Repeated R.N. bookplate. (Blackmer, 1344; Blackmer, 924; Atabey, 988).