A fine album of watercolours illustrating the chief ancient sites of Athens a few years after Greek independence. The monuments are depicted in resplendent isolation before the oncoming encroachments of modernity and civilisation. The Odeon is here is still engulfed in rubbish; weeds and various plant life picturesquely decorate the crevices of these ruins; and lumps of masonry still lie scattered over the sites before nineteenth century restorers began slotting them back in place. Byron worship was still in the ascendant and with the accessibility of the country by tourist after Turkish rule ended in 1830-32 which allowed Athens to become a practical attraction for the romantically inclined traveller. The upper cover is lettered ‘Antiquites Grecques’ which mayd indicate a French origin, but the quality of the album and the style of binding suggest the work may actuallye Greek and made for the embryonic tourist trade. All the main antiquities are illustrated, or at least those that were visible before extensive excavations began. The views include the Acropolis, Parthenon, Erechtheio, Karyatides statues of the Erechtheion, Propylaea gallery, Nike temple, Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Philopappos Monument, Temple of Olympian Zeus, Arch of Hadrian, Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, Tower of the Winds, Gate of Athena Archegetis, Stoa Poikile, Temple of Hephaestus, The steps of Demosthenes, and a general view Thesion including the Temple of Hephaestus. The last few illustrations illustrate sites outside of Athens that include the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, Temple of Aphaia? Parnassos?