Rare publications, manuscripts and documents of particular historical value, a very interesting series of photographs and numerous engravings are among the items included in the upcoming VERGOS Auctions auction.The two-day auction of “Rare Books, Manuscripts, Documents & Engravings” will take place on Wednesday, October 16 and Thursday, October 17 at the Athens Capital Hotel at 5.30 p.m., with public attendance.

Interested parties may participate in the auction by physical presence at the Athens Capital Hotel, online as well as through written and/or telephone bids. For more information please visit www.vergosauctions.com.

Participants in the auction will have the opportunity to acquire rare first editions of works by Odysseus Elytis, George Seferis, Nikos Kazantzakis and many others, many of which bear personal dedications by their authors, such as Nikos Engonopoulos, Nikos Gatsos and Andreas Embiricos. Photographs of historical figures such as the portrait of Eleftherios Venizelos as well as monuments and regions of Greece from the 19th century onwards, posters of the Greek National Tourism Organisation signed by renowned painters such as Spyros Vassiliou, rare illustrated publications and a multitude of engravings signed by great artists enrich the extensive list of 615 lots of the auction.

The auction features, among others, the following:

-The second edition, limited to 300 copies, of the Memorandum of Adamantios Korais in French (Paris 1818), in which the pioneer of the Modern Greek Enlightenment presented the first signs of national awakening of the Greek people to a foreign audience, the Society of Humanitarians of Paris.

– A receipt for the collection of money in Italian signed by the great philhellene Lord Byron from his banker in Ravenna, Pellegrino Ghigi (23 February 1821).

-The first and only edition of Cassas‘ monumental work, which includes 16 etchings with views of Greece, Sicily and Rome. L. F. Cassas was a member of the group of scholars and artists who accompanied Choiseul-Gouffier when he settled in Constantinople as ambassador of France and first visited Athens in August 1784. Cassas is the only French traveller who left complete compositions of late 18th-century Athens.