144 - [ΓΡΗΓΟΡΗΣ Α. ΠΕΡΔΙΚΑΡΗΣ] GREGORY Α. PERDICARIS: The Greece of the Greeks. New York, 1845

[ΓΡΗΓΟΡΗΣ Α. ΠΕΡΔΙΚΑΡΗΣ] GREGORY Α. PERDICARIS: The Greece of the Greeks. New York, 1845 First edition. In 8vo, modern leather, spine gilt. Text with scattered spotting and foxing. Complete in two volumes: [7], 293 p.; 300 p., [1], with 12 plates including frontispiece and two maps. Manuscript ownership inscription of William St Clair, leading Hellenist, on front pastedown, together with his own one-page manuscript annotations bound at the end of the second volume. Overall in almost very good condition, with fine provenance. Perdicaris (1810-1883) was a Greek-born entrepreneur, educator, and diplomat who became the first U.S. Consul to independent Greece. Having migrated to the United States with his family before 1821, he raised awareness about the Greek cause during the War of Independence, organized Philhellenic circles, and later became a nucleus of the emerging Greek lobby in America. From 1837 to 1843 he served as U.S. Consul in Greece, where he actively sought American funding for various projects and reported his personal observations from travels across the country. His book offers detailed descriptions of Greek cities and society in the first years of independence. Notably, he recounts the visions of a nun in Tinos preceding the construction of the great church there, and the influx of pilgrims whose donations supported both religious and social causes. Perdicaris later returned to the U.S., where he incorporated numerous companies and played a pivotal role in the development of municipal gas and electricity networks in the late 19th century. His name appears in major legal history, including the Supreme Court case Dewing v. Perdicaris (1877). A rare travel account of Greece by a Greek-American, and most probably the first of its kind.