Ɵ GREECE AND TURKEY: Contemporary copies of five letters by Frederick Sylvester North Douglas (1791-1819) to his father (Lord Glenbervie) or his mother, written from Yeni Shehr (Dardanelles), Athens and Andruzza (Androussa, Peloponnese), May-October 1811. 47pp., transcribed into an album, the remaining leaves blank, watermarked 1815, contemporary vellum, 4to. Condition Report Comprises: Letter 1, Yeni Sehr (Dardanelles), 21 May 1811. Recounting meeting and travelling with his uncle (presumably the philhellene Frederick North), his estimation of the Greeks and Turks [p.4-5], visiting Skiathos ('a wretched barren uninhabited island by turns the residence & prey of pirates' [p.5]), Agio Strato (Agios Efstratios, 'about four years ago a large army of small locusts laid it completely waste' [p.5-6]) and sending sainfoin to his mother from the summit of the tomb of Hector; Letter 2, May 27 1811. An account of his 'Trojan expedition' [p.9-15], including a tale of Lord Byron [p.8]:'Lord Byron a mad my lord who lived for a year in Athens making it his boast never to have been in the temple of Theseus swam over the Hellespont the other day, but by an unaccountable choice did not take the five furlongs between Sestos & Abydos but went to lower down where it is much broader & he performed his feat with much difficulty confirming the notion which all Mediterranean nations have of the madness of the English' (Byron swam the Hellespont on 3 May 1810, from Sestos to Abydos); Letter 3, Athens, Sept 14 1811. Setting out for the Morea, to Egina (Aegina), Epidaurus and Corinth and running out of funds [p.17-25]; Letter 4, Athens, Sept 22 1811. Describing Athens and its surroundings [p.27-34]; Letter 5, Andruzza, [Androusa, the Morea], 6 Oct 1811. 'I am writing in the wretched only Greek house in a Turkish village... only one room... no floor but stones, no ceiling but tiles & wood from which bugs are dropping in immense quantities... I own I begin to long for comforts & for remaining quiet for there is nothing so monotonous as unceasing novelty' [p.35-36]. He describes the rapacity of Veli, Pasha of the Morea ('a great friend of my uncle'; son of Ali Pasha of Ioannina), Mani and its singular people... bloody and indefatigable pirates infesting the Archipelago in large row boats [p.37-42] and writes favourably about the peninsula of Messinia [p.45-46]. 'I have taken means to gain a plan & statistical account of the country & visions of publishing may pass thro my head [p.42]... 'a second volume of my journal is finished' [p.43]. The letter ends [p.47] 'You may imagine my joy at having met Cockerell at Meritra [Mirtea] his name is I believe familiar to you as having been one of my old Westminster friends... the last time we had dined together before we did so over the ruins of Sparta was at Mother Chaphams. He is much improved in looks & manners & I hear him spoken well of everywhere'. Frederick Douglas undertook a grand tour from 1810 to 1812 and on his return wrote An essay on certain points of resemblance between the ancient and modern Greeks (1813). These copies of letters include a tale of Lord Byron swimming the Hellespont, an encounter with an old friend, the archaeologist and architect Charles Cockerell, visits to Skiathos, the Dardanelles, the plain of Troy, Athens, the Morea and Mani, and observations on Veli Pasha, son of Ali Pasha of Ioannina.