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BIKELAS, D[emetrius].
Loukis Laras.
Reminiscences of a Chiote Merchant during the War of Independence. Translated from the Greek by J. Gennadius.
First edition in English of this highly influential naturalistic Greek novel. Bikelas was a businessman, translator, poet and novelist, and was also first president of the International Olympic Committee. Inked inscription, "Ducie from Mrs. Duncan Stewart, Feb. 1881." Mrs. Duncan Stewart, the widow of a Baltic merchant, had a wide range of largely theatrical and literary friends, who included Leigh Hunt, William Charles Macready, Charles Kean, Capt. Marryat, and Henry James. On her death James remarked, "She was a charming old being, and I shall miss her much. Someday I shall put her into a book." She was the model for Lady Davenant in A London Life. The recipient would have been Henry John Reynolds-Moreton, third Earl of Ducie, which name is gilt at the tail of the spine, whose country home, Sarsden, Mrs. Duncan Stewart often visited.
Octavo, (203 × 122 mm) half sage green morocco on matching pebble-grained, title gilt to spine, raised bands, gilt quatrefoil device to compartments, top edge gilt, others uncut. Engraved head- and tail-pieces. Just a little rubbed at the extremities, a touch sunned at the spine, mild marginal foxing, but overall a very nice copy indeed.
