Note on the Select Bibliography

The Select Bibliography consists of two parts: the Bibliography of the 1972 edition and a new Bibliography of primary and secondary materials published since 1972.

The primary sources for a study of philhellenism are numerous since it was an important political and literary topic in Western Europe and the United States for many years. The secondary material is also very great, but much of this is of little value. Many later writers have confined themselves to the Philhellenes of their own nationality, and some have picked up the habit from the accounts of the original Philhellenes of dismissing volunteers of other nationalities than their own as ‘foreign adventurers’. Other books on the subject are mainly interesting as examples of present-day philhellenic writing and a few verge on the conventions of hagiography.

With notable exceptions therefore I have relied principally on primary sources or works containing a good deal of primary material, and in particular on the accounts of their experiences written by the Philhellenes themselves. These are much more numerous than is generally realized and I have attempted to compile a list, Works by Philhellenes, in as comprehensive a form as possible. Many of these books are of extreme rarity and there are a few of which I have not been able to trace copies.

The second list, Other Useful Sources, contains the names of contemporary works not by Philhellenes which contain evidence of their activities and of the chief secondary sources which I have found helpful.

It has not been my intention in this book to reconsider the general history of the Greek War of Independence, although I hope that I may have helped to illuminate some aspects of it. For the main facts of the war I have relied on the usual sources and I have not thought it necessary therefore to include a bibliography of the Greek War as such. As far as the Philhellenes are concerned, few of the Greek authors give them more than casual mention.

There seemed to be little point too in including a lengthy list of the pamphlets and books of verse about the war, important though these are for making judgements about the state of public opinion. Remarks on these books are included in appropriate places among the Notes. In the Notes to each chapter I have indicated the main sources relevant to the theme. Works referred to in the Select Bibliography are abbreviated to the name of the author in italics as, for example, Kiesewetter, or, in cases where he wrote more than one book, by the author’s name and a short title, as Finlay, Greek Revolution. The titles of other works which are not in the bibliography are given in full.

In order not to slow too much the momentum of the narrative by overloading it with proper names, I have consigned the names of some of the characters who are seldom mentioned to the Notes. This is a compromise made inevitable by the decision not to include a nominal list of all known Philhellenes.