The ''Athenian Letters'' was a collaborative work of

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

history and geography, published by a circle of authors around

Charles Yorke Charles Yorke Privy Council of the United Kingdom, PC (30 December 172220 January 1770) was briefly Lord Chancellor, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. His father was also Lord Chancellor, and he began his career as a Member of Parliament. ...

and Philip Yorke, and taking the form of commentary in letter form on

Thucidydes Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scientif ...

. It had a “considerable vogue”. While still college students, the brothers Yorke planned the work, which was begun in and appeared in two volumes (1741 and 1743), initially in a very small private edition. Others involved, anonymously, were

Thomas Birch Thomas Birch (23 November 17059 January 1766) was an English historian. Life He was the son of Joseph Birch, a coffee-mill maker, and was born at Clerkenwell. He preferred study to business but, as his parents were Quakers, he did not go to t ...

Henry Coventry Henry Coventry (1619–1686), styled "The Honourable" from 1628, was an English politician who was Secretary of State for the Northern Department between 1672 and 1674 and the Southern Department between 1674 and 1680. Origins and education Co ...

, John Green, Samuel Salter, Catherine Talbot,

Daniel Wray Daniel Wray (28 November 1701 – 29 December 1783) was an English antiquary and Fellow of the Royal Society. Life Born on 28 November 1701 in the parish of St. Botolph, Aldersgate, he was the youngest child of Sir Daniel Wray (died 1719), a Lo ...

, George Henry Rooke, John Heaton, John Lawry, and

William Heberden William Heberden FRS (13 August 171017 May 1801) was an English physician. Life He was born in London, where he received the early part of his education at St Saviour's Grammar School. Full text at Internet Archive (archive.org) At the end of ...

. 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 of 10, and later editions and a French translation followed. Philip C. Yorke, The Life and Correspondence of Philip Yorke Earl of Hardwicke, pp. 207.8.

Notes and references

{{authoritycontrol 1741 books 18th-century history books History books about ancient Greece