First French edition of an important study on Smyrna (Izmir) and a rare Smyrna imprint: a greatly enlarged translation of the much smaller Greek edition (48 pp.). Though located on the west coast of todays Turkey, Izmir may have been the birthplace of Homer and has a long history as a cosmopolitan centre where many cultures mixed. It passed centuries under Persian, Greek, Roman and Turkish (from 1389 to World War I Ottoman) rule and was home to Turks, Greeks, Armenians and Jews, as well as many European merchants. In the 19th century, near the end of its Ottoman period, Smyrna was an important financial and cultural centre of the Greek world. The present book, by a Greek author and an Armenian printer-publisher, describes various aspects of the city, its origins and history, the river Meles, the ancient monuments and ruins, its medals, but also the surroundings, landscape and the many (sometimes destructive) earthquakes in the city.
Konstantinos Oikonomos (1780-1857) was a Greek Orthodox theologian and teacher, who wrote many works concerning theology and church history. After being imprisoned by Ali Pasha for suspected participation in a conspiracy against him, Oikonomos went to Smyrna in 1809, where he lived and worked as a teacher at the gymnasium until 1819. At that date he moved to Constantinople (Istanbul), but fled to Odesse after the Greek revolution (1821-1832) broke out. The present account of Smyrna is one of his earliest works and one of the few extensive studies of this ancient city with a rich multicultural history. The Greek edition was first printed in a periodical in 1817 and later in one printed at Malta in 1831. Slaars greatly enriched the work with an appendix and numerous and extensive notes, really completing the work. It was printed on site in Smyrna itself, by Boghos Tatikian, an engraver, lithographer, printer and publisher "best known for his many lithographs on costume subjects" (Atabey). The present Smyrna edition rarely appears on the market.
Signed by the translator on the verso of the first leaf. With a small chip in the upper part of the front wrapper, wrappers slightly dust-soiled, hinges and spine a little cracked, some leaves slightly loose, some foxing and a few spots throughout, the edges of some leaves slightly frayed, but overall in good condition. Atabey 883; not in Blackmer.