[Greek text] Gyroi. Simeiomatário taxidion. 1922-1934 ["Tours. Travel journal. 1922-1934"].

8vo.

Sewn, ill. fold. wrappers (lower cover soiled).

Very rare first edition of this work in Greek written by Iraklis Ioannides (1897-1950), under his pseudonym of Petros Afthoniatis. Illustrated by Giorgios Gounaropoulos (Gounaro) with a frontispiece and 7 nice plates. Issue limited to 200 copies (n. 70). Ioannides' life centres on travel. His life was marked by the two World Wars, the Greek exile from Asia Minor in 1923 and the Greek Civil War. Living and working in Greece, he became secretary to Leonidas Embirikos, Minister of Provisions and Self-Sufficiency in the government of Venizelos and a shipbuilder. Embiricos asked him to run the Paris office of his company Neptos. At the same time, with a view to resuscitating tourism in Greece, Ioannides convinced Embirikos to organise cruises in the Mediterranean Sea in the footsteps of Ulysses ("Les escales d'Ulysse"). One of the most important cruises was organised in 1933 on the "Patris 2" where Le Corbusier's Athens Charter relating to urban planning was elaborated. Ioannides was also the founder of the periodical "Le Voyage en Grèce", published between 1934 and 1939, which promoted a synthesis of modern architecture, archeology, art and tourism. It contains texts by Le Corbusier, Tériade (Ioannides' best friend), Marguerite Yourcenar, Maurice Raynal etc., with ill. by Braque, Matisse, Picasso, Cocteau etc.
Ref. "Heraklès Joannides, mon père (Marmara, 1897 – Ekali, 1950)" by Irène Ioannides, in the sale catalogue of Rouillac, June 2011, p. 299.
Prov. Dedication from Ioannides, signed with his pseud., to Paul Vanderborght (1899-1971), Belgian poet. Ioannides also translated the dedication in Greek "Didié [sic] aux amis qui ont suivi et suivent avec sympathie, enthousiasme et actions du coeur mes mouvements intérieurs et extérieurs, mes arrivées et mon nouveau départ" (ms. note dated from Paris 28/3/1935).