94
327
327. WyndHam, John. the chrysalids. Michael Joseph. 1955.
£198
8vo., original cloth with dust wrapper. spine of wrapper slightly sunned, a little rubbing to head and tail of spine of wrapper, otherwise a very good copy.
First edition.
the anatoMY oF a Victorian BanKruPtcY steMMing FroM the greeK soVereign DeBt DeFault anD the Failure oF an oVer-eXtenDeD, unDercaPitaliseD British BanK
328. Xenos, stephanos theodoros. Depredations; or, overend, gurney, & co., and the greek & oriental steam navigation company. London: Taylor and Francis for the author, 1869.
£595
8vo (213 x 138mm). original dark-green cloth, boards blocked in blind with borders of broad and narrow rules enclosing elaborate floral-spray corner-pieces, spine lettered in gilt and decorated in gilt and blind, lemon- yellow endpapers; pp. viii, 377, [1 (blank)]; roman and greek types; one integral wood-engraved plate and letterpress tables in the text; extremities very slightly rubbed and bumped, slight surface cracking on hinges, slightly spotted on first and last ll., nonetheless a very good copy in the original cloth.
328
First edition. Xenos (1821-1894) — who is ‘considered to be the father of the greek historical novel’ (Blackmer 1849) — was born in smyrna, but emigrated to england in the late 1840s, with the assistance of sir edmund lyons Bt, the British Minister and Plenipotentiary at athens. his satirical novel The Devil in Turkey, which describes the conditions of life in turkey before and after the reformation of gulkhané in 1839, ‘achieved considerable success in london’ (loc. cit.). Xenos also established the newspaper British Star, for the greek community in london and a philhellenic society in 1863, and ‘his best known novels were published in london, in greek’ (loc. cit.). in tandem with his literary career, Xenos established a very successful shipping agency; however, over-extending his interests with the foundation of the greek and oriental steam navigation company in 1857 led to his bankruptcy in 1876 (the greek commercial crisis and debt default in 1860 and the collapse of Messrs overend, gurney and company’s bank in 1866, when the government refused to bail them out, also played its part). the present work is ‘an apologia/account of his business affairs, consisting mainly of the history of the greek & oriental steam navigation company. Xenos provides us with an interesting glimpse into the working of greek businesses in london’ (Blackmer). Following his bankruptcy, Xenos returned to his native athens, where he remained and wrote his historical novels.
University of Kansas, Descriptive Catalog of the History of Economics Collection (1850-1930), II, p. 532; cf. Blackmer 1851 (2nd ed.).
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