A.G. Leventis digitisation project: Robert Wood’s copies of inscriptions
Aaron Fordwoh writes about the digitisation project underway at the Hellenic and Roman Library, funded by the AG Leventis Foundation.
Part of my work as the A.G. Leventis Digitisation Officer here at the ICS has been to digitise and publish the material found in the Wood Collection.
The Wood Diaries and accompanying material were presented by the descendants of Robert Wood (1716-71) to the Library of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies in 1926.
The Donation comprises twenty-eight items, one of which is now missing. The main part consists of diaries and sketches from a tour of the Levant in 1750-51 made by Wood and three companions (the archaeologists James Dawkins (1722-57) and John Bouverie (c1722-50), who died on the tour, and the Italian draughtsman Giovanni Battista Borra (1712-86).
One fascinating aspect of the digitisation of the collection has been the opportunity to study in detail the copies of inscriptions made during the tour. Below is a selection of pages from volume 13 (Fig. 1-3) which includes inscriptions Athens, Baalbek and Palmyra, as well as volume 14 (Fig. 4-10) which includes inscriptions from Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt.
Fig. 1-3
Wood Collection, Volume 13.
Robert Wood, 1750-51.
Copies of inscriptions by Robert Wood made during the tour. Wood 13, bound in vellum, includes Athens, Baalbek and Palmyra. (114 pages), 14 x 8 cm.
Fig. 4-9
Wood Collection, Volume 14.
Robert Wood, 1750-51.
Notebook in a marble paper cover, includes Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt, with loose inscriptions by Robert Wood and others. (52 pages, 19 loose leaves), 38 x 25 cm.