First edition, illustrated with a portrait of the author after Sir Thomas Lawrence in the text volume, and, in the atlas volume, with 1 engraved map (numbered 1) and 74 lithographed plates (numbered 2 to 75; plate 27 misnumbered 17), including 8 hand-coloured plates: plates 28 (Fresco of Dieudonné de Gozon), 41 (Tomb of Fabrice Caretti), and 61 to 66 (Frescoes from the crypts of Our Lady of Philerme).
See Atabey 1056. Blackmer 1450. Loukia Droulia 1474. Weber, I, 163.
Text volume bound in contemporary green half shagreen, spine with four raised bands adorned with gilt garlands and floral tools, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, rubbed corners; atlas volume in contemporary red half calf with corners, flat spine with gilt fillets, rubbed, marbled paper boards with scratches, some wear to edges and corners.
Some foxing, stains at foot of plate no. 10 in the atlas, and minor foxing on some other engravings.
Brunet, IV, 1415: "Ouvrage curieux et dont les planches sont fort belles".
The lithographs, after drawings by Witdoeck, depict the coastlines of the island of Rhodes, the harbour, fortifications, and principal buildings and monuments, some in ruins: the gates of Saint Catherine, Saint Paul and Saint John, the site and reconstruction of the Colossus, the interior of the palace, Fort Saint Nicholas, Garden of Auvergne, Street of the Knights, tomb of Robert de Julliac, castellany, convent, Lodge of Saint John, priories of France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and England, Church of Saint Mark, bishop's palace, façade and interior of Saint Stephen, Admiralty, watchtower of the Knights, Church of Our Lady of Philerme with its frescoes, etc. After studying at the University of Louvain, Bernard Eugène Antoine Rottiers (Antwerp, 1771 – Brussels, 1858) joined the Dutch army in 1789. He fought at the Battle of Jemappes and sailed to England in 1795 with Stadtholder William V. He then served in the British army before leaving for Russia, where he joined the Georgian army. Promoted to colonel, he later returned to the Netherlands. A man of letters and archaeologist, he was entrusted in 1825 with a scientific mission to the Levant: "In January 1826, I departed with one of my sons and my painter, Mr. P.-J. Witdoeck. After stopping in Santorini, we landed in Rhodes, and barely arrived, we began our work. It was as dangerous as it was laborious. The Turks had never permitted anyone, until us, to draw the monuments of the island, especially the interiors of churches and other buildings... These dangers recurred everywhere. We had to brave them again for the drawings of the fortifications, the harbour, the tombs. But the goal was well worth the risk to attain it..." (pp. 15–16).
Rare work.