Athenian Letters

The Athenian Letters[1] was a collaborative work of Ancient Greek history and geography, published by a circle of authors around Charles Yorke and Philip Yorke, and taking the form of commentary in letter form on Thucidydes. It had a “considerable vogue”.[2]

## Composition and publications

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While still college students, the brothers Yorke planned the work, which was begun in 1739 (286 years ago) (1739) and appeared in two volumes (1741 and 1743), initially in a very small private edition. Others involved, anonymously, were Thomas Birch, Henry Coventry,  John Green, Samuel Salter, Catherine Talbot, Daniel Wray, George Henry Rooke, John Heaton, John Lawry, and William Heberden. The authorship was for a long time a well-guarded secret. A one-volume edition in 1781 ran to 100 copies, the first edition having been only 10, and later editions and a French translation followed.[3]

## Notes and references

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1. ^ Athenian Letters: or, the epistolary correspondence of an agent of the King of Persia, residing at Athens during the Peloponnesian war. Containing the history of the times, in dispatches to the ministers of state at the Persian court. Besides letters on various subjects between him and his friends.
2. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hardwicke, Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 945.
3. ^ Philip C. Yorke, The Life and Correspondence of Philip Yorke Earl of Hardwicke, pp. 207.8.