Travel books with elaborate illustrations, extremely rare manuscripts by prominent figures in literature and the arts, hard-to-find maps that provide important information about the periods in which they were drawn, documents of particular historical significance, and many other publications dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries are just a few of the items included in the extensive catalog for VERGOS Auctions’ “Rare Books, Manuscripts, Documents & Prints” auction.

Find out more and learn how to participate in the auction on the website www.vergosauctions.com.

The auction will take place on November 11 and 12 at the renovated historic Arsakeio Arcade building, STOA Culture, in downtown Athens (at 5:30 p.m.).

Among the items in the auction catalog, the following stand out, among others:

• The handwritten poem “Supplication” by the great poet C. P. Cavafy (1863–1933). “Supplication” was published in 1898 and is one of the 154 “recognized” poems—as they are called—that the poet himself included in his official collection of poetry.

• A hand-drawn diagram of the Battle of Navarino, which does not appear to be a copy of any known diagram. The unusual orientation and the perspective rendering of topographical details suggest that it may be the work of an eyewitness.

• An almost complete collection of the writings of the scholar Chr. Angelos (1575–1638), which he published between 1617 and 1624 to make the West aware of the brutality of the Turks and the situation in his homeland. No other first edition copy of a work by Christos Angelos has appeared at a Greek or foreign auction, at least not in the last 40 years.

• Louis Dupré’s iconic work, featuring 40 hand-colored lithographs. An exceptional copy of the most beautiful travel book about Greece, in which Dupré’s genuine philhellenic sentiments and his love for the country and its people are evident.

• An 18th-century textbook containing ancient Greek texts and line-by-line commentary. In terms of its texts, this manuscript was a textbook of the highest quality, written by an experienced scribe with care and attention to detail.