The book tells the story of how the British consular service in the
Aegean, in the years of the British protectorate of the Ionian
Islands (1815-1864) became an agency for the retrieval, excavation
and collection of antiquities eventually destined for the British
Museum. Exploring the historical, political and diplomatic
circumstances that allowed the consular service to develop from a
chartered company into a state run institution under the direction
of the Foreign Office, it provides a unique perspective on the
intersection of state policy, private ambition, and the collecting
of antiquities. Drawing extensively on consular correspondence, the
study sets out several challenges to current views. For those
interested in the history of travel in the Levant, or more
generally in the Grand Tour, the book presents an alternative point
of view that challenges the travellers' descriptions of the region.
The book also intersects with British diplomatic history, providing
an insight into the consuls in both their official and private
circumstances, and comparing their situation under the Levant
Company with that of the Foreign Office run consular service. The
complex political situation in the Aegean at the time of the take
over of the service is examined along with the political and
commercial roles of the consuls, their daily dealings with the
Greeks and Ionians, and also with the Ottoman authorities. Through
private correspondence, it shows how the consuls' reflected the
belief that Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian, Roman and other
antiquities would be better looked after in a British, French,
German or American museum, than by the people, and in the
countries, they were created for. In particular, the book
illuminates the public/private nature of the consuls' role, the way
they worked with, but independently of, government, and it reveals
how Britain was able to acquire major pieces of sculpture from the
nineteenth century Aegean.
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