DRUMMOND, Alexander. Travels through different Cities of Germany, Italy, Greece, and several Parts of Asia, as far as the Banks of the Euphrates: In a Series of Letters..., London, W. Strahan for the author, MDCCLIV [1754].

The British consul Alexander Drummond (?-1769) travelled in the Eastern Mediterranean between 1744 and 1751. In 1754 he published the letters he had sent to his brother during his travels. In the spring of 1744 he crossed Europe and, after visiting Genoa and Florence, arrived in Venice, from where he set sail in October. He arrived in Smyrna after visiting Zacynthos, Cythera, Myconos and Delos. In March 1745, Drummond was in Tripoli of Syria. He stayed in Cyprus until December 1746 and then in Alexandretta until 1750, from where he made trips to Saint Symeon, Antioch, Seleucia and the Euphrates region.

Drummond was probably a merchant and served as consul of Britain in Aleppo from 1754 to 1756. In 1751 he had undertaken similar duties in Cyprus, where he travelled about one thousand kilometres. The drawings that embellish the work of this meticulous and hard-to-please traveller are clear and diligently made, and more attractive than his writing. His recording of the Byzantine and Medieval monuments of Cyprus, in an informative rather than appreciative style, remains extremely important. Drummond tends to enter into great detail when he refers to commercial activities, law and the political situation of the island.

Written by Ioli Vingopoulou