Book of the month

16 Φεβ 2023

Alexander Drummond, Travels through the different Countries of Germany, Italy, Greece, and parts of Asia Minor, as far as the Euphrates, with an Account of what is remarkable in their present State and their Monuments of Antiquity, Printed by W. Strahan f

Alexander Drummond, Travels through the different Countries of Germany, Italy, Greece, and parts of Asia Minor, as far as the Euphrates, with an Account of what is remarkable in their present State and their Monuments of Antiquity, Printed by W. Strahan for the author, 1754.

Alexander Drummond was a Scottish diplomat and travel writer. He was born on 18 January 1698 in Edinburgh Parish, the second son of a merchant and younger brother to George Drummond, Lord Provost of Edinburgh. In 1744 Drummond was appointed H.M. Consul at Aleppo.

Drummond visited Cyprus, twice: the first time, on March 6, 1745 when remained on the island until the 15 May of the same year and again for a short tour of the island, in April 1750. In 1754 in the form of a series of thirteen letters from 20 July 1744 - 13 November 1750, addressed to his elder brother in Edinburgh, George, published his impressions from his travels to Germany, Venice, the Eastern Mediterranean and Cyprus: “Travels through the different Countries of Germany, Italy, Greece, and parts of Asia Minor, as far as the Euphrates, with an Account of what is remarkable in their present State and their Monuments of Antiquity”.

From Cyprus, Drummond gathered many experiences but also a lot of information, which he included in his work: “If the Venetians obtained this island by such horrid crimes, they shamefully lost it by negligence, jealously, and cursed pride of those to whom the preservation of it was intrusted”, “Cyprus, we are told, was, for a considerable time, divided into nine districts, and governed by as many princes;” he gave a very thorough account of the island’s main cities, along with his personal opinion of each one: “[…]All I have to say about Famagusta, you will readily own it was not worth the fatigue I underwent in going to see it”,“Larnica is pleasantly situated as the distance of a little mile from a spacious bay […]”, refers to the administrative division of the island and its officials and gives a rather detailed list about the products the island produced at the time, their prices and values.

Overall, Alexander Drummond's work it is still consulted frequently since it is a valuable source of information in the mid-18th century and sheds some light at a time that little was known and even less written about.

Join us here at the Research Centre of CVAR, where you can enjoy reading this book and many more.

The 'Book of the Month' series is made possible with the support of OPAP (Cyprus).

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