WORDSWORTH, Christopher. Greece Pictorial, Descriptive, & Historical…, and a History of the Characteristics of Greek Art…, London, John Murray, 1882.

Christopher Wordsworth (1807-1885) became Bishop of Lincoln in 1868. An excellent classical scholar and the author of numerous theological works, he visited Greece during 1832-1833 and was the first British citizen to be received by King Otto (Othon).

His two most memorable works, "Athens and Attica... and Greece, pictorial, descriptive…", are written in a style authoritative since the seventeenth century but free of the pretentiousness of those erudite works in which mythology, observations on contemporary geography and demography, scholarly comments and observations made on the spot are mixed in a hazy manner. A tireless investigator, Wordsworth gives us rigorous descriptions, especially of archaeological sites, makes frequent references to classical authors and enthusiastically records what he sees around him. For all these reasons, his work was an immediate success. For the illustrations of his books, Wordsworth borrowed drawings from publications by H. Belle and the "Expédition Scientifique de Morée", as well as by C.R. Cockerell, Choiseul-Gouffier, Hervé, J.Stuart/N. Revett and others.

Written by Ioli Vingopoulou