THE LION MONUMENT AT AMPHIPOLIS. [Together with]: The Lion of Amphipolis - A Plea for its Reconstruction by Lincoln MacVeagh. [And]: The Lion of Amphipolis - A Lecture Delivered Before an Open Meeting of the French School of Archaeology at Athens by The Honorable Lincoln MacVeagh, American Minister to Greece.

(MacVeagh, Lincoln). Broneer, Oscar.

Published by Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1941., 1941

About this Item

- Quarto, 10 inches high by 7 inches wide. Hardcover, bound in tan buckram titled in brown within brown decorative borders on the front cover. The titling on the spine is faded. xvii, [3], pages [1]-76 illustrated with a frontispiece and profuse photographic illustrations as well as a portfolio of 11 plates at the end of the book which includes photographs by MacVeagh. There is some minor foxing to the endpapers and pastedowns and the edges of the pastedowns are soiled. Near fine. The RARE FIRST EDITION, from the library of the book's Dedicatee "The Honorable Lincoln MacVeagh".The prospectus "The Lion of Amphipolis - A Plea for its Reconstruction" by Lincoln MacVeagh is a 10 by 7-1/2 inch 4-page pamphlet with a 1934 photograph of the fragments of the lion laid in. It was published in Athens in 1934. ".recently, during the progress of the great work in connection with the drainage of the Serres Plain and the deepening of the Amphipolis Gorge, the engineers of the Monks-Ulen Company of New York became impressed with the majesty and immensity of the all-but-buried and half-forgotten fragments of the Lion of Amphipolis. Enthusiastically, they brought the idea of its reconstruction to me. I visited the site; and the plan herein set forth, in which it is my hope that a sufficient number of lovers of Greece and of Greek Art will join, was born."The lecture by MacVeagh, "The Lion of Amphipolis", was delivered to The French School of Archaeology at Athens in 1937. It is a 10 by 7-1/4 inch 12-page pamphlet illustrated with 4 photographs and 2 maps showing the location of Amphipolis. The lecture is for the most part an account of the restoration work to date. "While the collaboration of the French and American Schools was thus producing unexpected results, the Greek authorities were also helping, and besides giving the whole enterprise their blessing, kindly accorded the schools the collaboration of Mr. Panayiotakis of the National Museum. This able sculptor spent weeks at Amphipolis, again thanks to the Monks-Ulen Companies, which lent their camp and collected the necessary workmen and tools for his operations. With great effort and patience, far from the conveniences of the city, Mr. Panayiotakis successfully carried through the task of making moulds, some of them of truly gigantic size, of all the existing fragments of the Lion. From these he made casts on the spot, and again with the help of the engineers, fitted these together under an enormous shed, and provided in plaster the missing pieces to complete the whole figure. This year it is planned to put the actual fragments themselves together and make the missing parts out of marble cement of a color agreeable to the rest."From the library of Lincoln MacVeagh and his wife Margaret with their "Arcades Ambo" bookplate on the front paste down. Lincoln MacVeagh (1890-1972), a Renaissance man, graduated from Harvard magna cum laude in 1913. He went on to study languages at the Sorbonne and became fluent in German, French, Spanish, Latin, Greek and Classical Greek. After World War I he became a director of the Henry Holt and Company publishing firm where he became friendly with the poet Robert Frost. In 1923 he left the firm and founded the Dial Press. His name appears on the imprint of many of their publications. In 1933 President Roosevelt appointed him Minister to Greece. He followed presentation of his credentials with a speech in Classical Greek. While in Greece he conducted excavations beneath the Acropolis and made archeological contributions to the National Museum in Athens. He left Greece in 1941 when the German army over ran the country. From there he was appointed the first US Minister to Iceland where he negotiated agreements for the construction of the Keflavik airfield. In late 1942 he became Minister to the Union of South Africa and coordinated American wartime agencies there. In 1943 he was sent to Cairo as Ambassador so that he could assist the governments in exile of Gre.

Seller Inventory # 98734

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE LION MONUMENT AT AMPHIPOLIS. [Together with]: The Lion of Amphipolis - A Plea for its Reconstruction by Lincoln MacVeagh. [And]: The Lion of Amphipolis - A Lecture Delivered Before an Open Meeting of the French School of Archaeology at Athens by The Honorable Lincoln MacVeagh, American Minister to Greece.
• Publisher: Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1941.
• Publication Date: 1941
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Archaeology