Ludwig Ross: Reisen auf den griechischen Inseln des ägäischen Meeres.Stuttgart 1840 First edition,in 8vo,later red leather over boards,complete 195p.,two maps and three plates,some scattered spotting and foxing, overall in very good condition. Ludwig Ross was a central figure in the Bavarocracy in early independent Greece. He was the first General Ephor of Antiquities for the independent Kingdom of Greece. He was the man responsible for the first systematic excavations of the Acropolis and the meticulous reconstruction of the Temple of Athena Nike, which had been dismantled by the Ottomans. He was also the inaugural professor of archaeology at the University of Athens, teaching the first generation of native Greek archaeologists in their own language. His exploration accounts in Greece have been separately published over more than ten years,some remained unpublished.This account cover the Cyclades It is an exhaustive, island-by-island survey that combines archaeology, epigraphy, and modern travelogue.Ross was a master of inscriptions. His books are filled with the first accurate recordings of Greek stone inscriptions, he wrote with a dry sobriety. He was interested in facts: the exact height of a column, the precise text on a pedestal, and the stratigraphic layers of a dig.Despite his focus on ruins, Ross provides rare accounts of 1830s island life,the poverty of the peasants, the hospitality of the monks,such as at Amorgos, and the state of the local schools.A fine insider s view of the first decade of archaeology and the real life of the Cyclades in the newly independent Greece