108 - Ambroise-Firmin Didot: Notes d' un voyage dans le Levant en 1816 et 1817. Paris, 1818

Ambroise-Firmin Didot: Notes d' un voyage dans le Levant en 1816 et 1817. Paris, 1818 First edition, in 8vo, contemporary leather over boards, complete 403p., text clean and bright, a little wear at the joint of the very last pages, overall in very good condition Didot spent his youth studying the classics with Korais.The latter encouraged Didot to travel to the Levant to see Greece and improve his Greek. So he visited Greece and Asia Minor and spent time in Kidonies, one of the centers of Greek studies in Anatolia. Didot was among the most important philhellenes and later raised funds for the Greek revolution.The second part of his travel was never published.The work is dedicated to Korais. Didot provides one of the most important accounts of the famous Greek college of Kidonies, on the coast of Asia Minor. He witnessed the intellectual awakening of the Greeks through education and printing, the very movement that fueled the revolution According to Atabey, the work was not intended for general circulation and Didot, as a publisher, just printed a small number of copies and made them as gifts to some of his friends. References: Atabey 350, Blackmer 485