About the George Finlay Papers
The George Finlay Papers contain materials created by and related to the British Historian and Philhellene George Finlay, his father John Finlay, Greek-American Philhellene George Jarvis, and British Philhellene Captain Frank Abney Hastings, dating from 1791 to 1949. Most of the collection consists of George Finlay’s meticulous records of his travels, personal and official correspondence, his personal expenditures, copious memoranda on strategy and on military and political organisation, journal entries, maps, facetiae, scrapbooks, personal notes on people—Greeks and others—and on revolutionary events, newspaper cuttings mainly on Greece and international affairs, as well as Finlay’s original manuscripts of the History of the Greek Revolution (1861) as well as corrected proofs of Finlay’s other published works.
Also included are the papers of Finlay’s father, John, two journals of Greek American philhellene, George Jarvis, and those of Finlay’s fellow British philhellene, Captain Frank Abney Hastings. The Hastings papers, which Finlay purchased in 1830, include personal and official correspondence, ship’s logs, notes that he took on board or ashore, as well as memoranda on strategy and on the naval organisation of the revolutionary forces. Collectively, these records reveal a great deal about the character, motivations, ideas, as well as the military and political judgements of these British individuals, as well as of many others, both British and Greek, with whom they interacted during the Greek War of Independence as well as many of Finlay's other interests, such as Classical and Byzantine history, natural history and politics.
Letter to The Times on use of chloroform as a treatment for cholera. 16 June, n. y.
Green board, printed cuttings pasted up, bound, paginated by George Finlay pp. 1-23. Cuttings from the Saturday Review with George Finlay's corrections and addenda.
Listed by George Finlay thus:
(1) 31 December 1870. 'The Eastern Question'.
(2) 17 April 1869. 'The Bulgarian Question', with notes in George Finlay's hand [duplicate in FIN/GF/E/50].
(3) 'Brigandage in Greece.' '27.3.71.' added in George Finlay's hand on p. 17.
Note added by George Finlay in this index though the articles are not pasted up here:
'Other articles inserted in the Saturday Review
6 February 1869. Constitutional Government in the East.
8 January 1870. Panslavism and Panhellenism.'
10 printed pamphlets, unbound.
P. Sophianopoulos, Le Progrès (´Η Προóδος) ou la Restauration de la Méditerranée, nouvelles orientales, Athens, 1840.
Ἀρχαῖα ἱστορικὰ γεγονóτα τῆς οἰκογενείας τῶν κομήτων Κλαδαίων ἀπό τὰ 1366 [corrected from 1330] μέχρι τὰ 1803, Athens, 1872, followed by Italian and English translation (list of historical documents on the Kladas family).
G. Marcoras, The Case of the Ionio British Pensions. (printed for private circulation), 14 February 1865 and sent to George Finlay with a letter in French from Corfu 8 June 1863 from 'Georges Marcoras'.
Notes on the Recent Murders by Brigands in Greece, London, 1870. ['John Gennadius' pencilled on copy].
Thomas Gordon (transl.), A Short History of the Secret Motives which Induced the Deceased Alemdar Mustafa Pasha . . . to Depose Sultan Mustafa . . . in . . . 1807, translated from the Turkish by Thomas Gordon, printed privately in Constantinople, n.d. [1834], [note on front flysheet by George Finlay 'given me by General Gordon the translator January 1836'].
Thomas Gordon, Account of Two Visits to the Anopaea or Highlands above Thermopylae . . . 1837, Athens, 1838, 12 pp.+map.
A. Theodorou, Ποίημα διὰ τὸν ἔκπτωτον Ὄθωνα, Athens, 1863.
Zacharenia Grammaticopoulou, Les Orages de ma vie, translated from the Greek by A. G. Emar, Athens, 1888. [not George Finlay's].
I. Speliotakis and others, ᾽Ενθύμιον. [articles and letters on Greek affairs including the Laurion mines question 1871-3].
D. S. Mavrocordato, `Υπομνημάτιον περὶ ἐκπαιδεύσεως τοῦ λαοῦ, 2nd edn., Athens, 1872.
Green mottle boards, green cloth spine, indexed alphabetically, handwritten with loose cuttings and 1 letter, bound.
Brief notes arranged alphabetically and mostly relating to modern Greece, with some cuttings from Greek newspapers and 1 letter dated 'Athens 19 November' (from W. B. Smyth thanking him for the loan of a book).
Handwritten, unbound octavo quires, paginated by George Finlay.
A collection of papers, scraps, and notes labelled '"Progress" and Miscellaneous Memoranda'.
Notes on 'Democratic Monarchy in Greece'
The prospects of George I King of the Greeks
Prospects of the new Dynasty on Greece' (undated). In paper enclosure by George Finlay.
Events in Greece, November, 1865'. Paper enclosure by George Finlay.
Nine printed pamphlets on miscellaneous subjects
S. Comnos, Über Nummerierungs-Systeme für wissenschaftlich geordnete Bibliotheken, Athens, 1874.
E. A. Freeman, Address to the Historical Section of the Annual Meeting of the Institute Held at Cardiff, n.d., 19 pp. [on the value of local history to the general historian], with a cutting from the Pall Mall Gazette of a letter by Freeman on the Theory of Annexation (16 February 1871).
Rules and Catalogue of the English Circulating Library, Athens, 1856, 20 pp. and appendix.
Alexander MacGregor, Disputatio inauguralis de morae indictivae, in peste arcenda, utilitate . . . , Edinburgh, 1833.
E. Kastorchis, Περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆθεν κοινωνίας τῶν Ἑλλήνων πρὸς τοὺς Ἰταλοὺς καὶ ᾽Ρωμαίους καὶ τῆς ἐντεῦθεν ἐπενεργείας αὐτῶν πρὸς ἐκπολιτισμὸν τούτων, Athens, 1872, 139 pp. Bound up with this is an address (in Greek) in memory of the Patriarch Gregory V, with a poem, by A. Valaoritis.
T. G. Orphanidis, pamphlet (in Greek) on the Natural History Museum of the University of Athens, Athens, 1865. (uncut).
G. G. Pappadopoulos (ed.), Χρονογραφία περὶ τῆς καταγωγῆς τῶν ἐν τῇ Μάνῃ Στεφανοπούλων, τῆς αὐτόθεν εἰς Κορσικὴν ἀποικήσεως καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς κατὰ τὸ 1729 ἐπαναστάσεως τῶν Κορσικαίων κατὰ τῶν Γενουαίων περιπετειῶν τῆς αὐτόθι Έλληνικῆς Κοινότητος, Athens, 1865.
J. Schmidt, Πραγματεία περì τοῦ γενομένου τῷ 1861 ῳ Δεκέμβρ. 26ῃ (14ῃ) σεισμοῦ τοῦ Αἰγίου . . ., Athens, 1867 (with statistics translated from the German by H. Mitsopoulos).
J. A. Speliotakis, ´Η Κρίσις, Athens, 1874. (pamphlet on Greek political affairs).
Πολεμικὸν Ναyτικὸν τῆς Ἐλλάδος, published by K. Antoniadis, Athens, 1844.
P. Lambros, Κατάλογος Α᾽, Athens, 1864. (catalogues of rare books).
P. Lambros, Κατάλογος β᾽, Athens, 1863. (catalogues of rare books).
D. I. Ansted, ´Η Ἓκθεσις . . ., Athens, 1874. (letters to the President of the Ministerial Council and the Director of the Laurion Mining Co.)
John Henry Hill, Λόγος . . ., Athens, 1873, 23 pp. (address to the American Embassy on 28 November 1872).
C. K. Tuckerman, International Obligations. A Thanksgiving Address Delivered before the American Residents at Athens ...., Athens, 1868.
Offprint of "The Finlay Library" by William Miller
Photocopies of 4 letters or copies of one letter from George Finlay to Hodder Westropp, dated 2 March 1871, and of 3 letters from George Finlay to John Evans dated between March and November 1872, The originals are in the John Evans' collection at the Ashmolean Museum.
Letter from Sue Sherratt at the Ashmolean to Amalia Kakissis, Archivist at the British School at Athens, accompanying the copies of the letters.
1 note that A/6 (now FIN/GF/A/06) is missing (17 October 1984). Resolved November 2021.
1 note that FIN/GF/B/06/003 and FIN/GF/B/06/004 are missing (3 November 1987). Resolved November 2021.
Letter from Francis Noel-Baker to Dr E French, Director of the BSA, 22 February 1992. Terms of the loan of correspondence between George Finlay and Edward Noel.
Letter from Penelope Wilson, Deputy Librarian at the BSA, to Professor Joan Hussey, 10 March 1992. Notifies her of the loan of the Noel letters.
Letter from Professor Hussey to Penny (Penelope Wilson), 27 July 1992. Checks the availability of the Noel-Baker letters during her stay in Athens.
Letter from Professor Hussey to Penny Wilson, 6 April 1992. Offers to catalogue the Noel-Baker letters.
Letter from Björn Röe to David Blackman, 10 May 1999. Encloses information on George Finlay's purchases of Turkish land in Attiki.
Frank Stubbings to Jane, 10 July 1954. Encloses copy of a letter from the Lord Lyon, King of Arms, to F. H. Stubbings (15 June 1954). Lyon confirms that Finlay did not have a right to the shield he used.
John Prag, Hon. Professor in the Manchester Museum to Amalia Kakissis, Archivist at the BSA, 7 January 2008. Encloses photocopies of two versions of the catalogue of Finlay's ancient gems and stone implements, as well as assorted correspondence on the collections.
Notes in French. Probably post-1950.
Blue paper covers. The Hellenic Kingdom and the Greek Nation, George Finlay. Uncut pages.
Ὲσπέρα Πέμπτης. Ο Αστιγξ προς τον τομπαζην
Exhibition organised by the Historical and Archaeological Society of Greece and the Ministry of Naval Affairs