250.00€
This rare literary lot brings together a first edition of Nikos Kazantzakis’s monumental travelogue Ταξιδεύοντας: Ισπανία, Ιταλία, Αίγυπτος, Σινά (Journeying: Spain, Italy, Egypt, Sinai, 1927, Alexandria) with an original handwritten poem by the Greek poet and artist Takis (Panagiotis) Kalmouchos.
About the Book:
Author: Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957), one of modern Greece’s most celebrated writers, renowned for Zorba the Greek, The Last Temptation of Christ, and philosophical travel literature exploring human struggle, faith, and existential thought.
Publisher: Serapeion Publishing House, Alexandria, Egypt, 1927
Edition: First edition
Dimensions: 19 cm × 13 cm
Pages: 240, illustrated by P. Kalmouchos and M. Matsakis
Binding: Original paper binding
Condition: Good (-), age wear to spine and edges
Provenance / Manuscript:
Included with this book is an original handwritten poem by the renowned Greek poet and artist Takis (Panagiotis) Kalmouchos (1890–1971). Written in Aegina to a woman named “Λιλή / Lili” for her nameday, the lyrical note celebrates “first-blooming wild violets” gathered from the shore. Kalmouchos was a close friend of Kazantzakis and a key figure in the literary and artistic circles of the Aegean, contributing poetry, drawings, and illustrations that reflect the spirit of the “Generation of the ’30s.”
Dimensions: 22 cm × 12 cm, well-preserved with minor age toning
Significance:
This lot is extremely rare, offering both a first edition of a key work by Kazantzakis and a personal manuscript by Kalmouchos. It provides a rare glimpse into the intimate literary and artistic circles of early 20th-century Greece. The combination of Kazantzakis’s first edition travel work and Kalmouchos’s personal poetic dedication makes it an exceptional collector’s item for bibliophiles, scholars, and admirers of Greek literature and art.
