GREECE. Handwritten letter, Constantinople July 10, 1833; 8 1/2 pages in-fol. (traces of light dampening due to disinfection). Trip to Greece. Long missive in which a young man (the letter is unsigned) tells his father about a trip he made to Athens in May 1833, shortly after the independence of the young Hellenic kingdom. He spends little time on the ancient monuments, which he saw rather than visited, and which, unlike most Western travelers, seem to hold little interest for him. Instead, he simply recounts his impressions of the trip, noting that King Otto did not seem likely to lift the country, and discussing plans to make Athens the capital of the young state. The return journey to Constantinople was made via Smyrna, which brings us a few notes on the local women, and much gossip on the conduct of the wife of the French consul, Charles-Alexandre de Challaye: "This lady is the daughter of Firmin Didot the printer, she is very fat, has been pleasant & seems to have come here only to amuse herself, laughs at every word that is said, is aristocratic in her salon and plants superb deer antlers for her husband, who finds this for the best"....