James Theodore Bent – The Cyclades, or Life Among the Insular Greeks, as a printed book

This is a complete and unaltered new edition of James Theodore Bent’s The Cyclades, or Life Among the Insular Greeks, one of the most celebrated of all travel books, a description of a journey to the islands of Greece in the 1880s, originally published in London in 1885.  It is newly typeset, not facsimile. With a short preface by Brian Jeffery.

xii + 171 pages.  A4.  First published by Tecla in 2000.

“There is one old book that should be read by all who plan to journey there….. When one reads Bent’s book and carries it with one while travelling through the Cyclades, one can see, beneath the profound changes that have taken place in the century since his visit, that there are deep and enduring links with its rich and remote past.” (John Freely, The Cyclades, London, 1986, page 31) (John Allaway pointed this out to me).

Jim Wainger, who had a copy of this new Tecla edition, was in correspondence and I wrote to him: “While you’re on Santorini, if you should wish to write anything on Bent’s chapter on that island as seen from the island today, maybe we could put it on the website. Only if you want to, of course.” And he has done it. Here it is (January 2001).

Read the whole of the new preface by Brian Jeffery.

Tecla home page.