77/2136 [Asia]. Chandler, R. Travels in Asia Minor: or an Account of a Tour made at the Expense of the Society of Dilettanti. Oxf., Clarendon Press for J. Dodsley a.o., (1775), 1st ed., XIV,XIII,(3),283,(1)p., 1 large fold. engr. map by TH. KITCHIN, contemp. gilt hcalf w. red mor. letterpiece, 4to.

- Fold. map sl. yellowed. Corners trifle rubbed; frontcover loose.

= In 1764 three members of the Society of Dillettanti set off from England to Ionia, the coastal area of present day Turkey and the islands in the Aegean Sea near that coast. Apart from the author Richards Chandler (1738-1810), the two other members of the Society of Dilettanti on the expedition were the architect Nicholas Revett (1720-1804) and the artist William Pars (1742-1782). The Society of Dilettanti, founded in 1734 by a group of people who had been on the Grand Tour, was a society of noblemen and gentlemen that sponsored the study of ancient Greek and Roman art. Its aim was to influence and correct the public taste of the country. The expedition was the Society's first independent mission. Its goal was to explore and describe the antiquities of Ionia. Atabey 215; Blackmer 318; Cox I, p.232. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE LXXVII.