Illyrian Letters: A Revised Selection of Correspondence from the Illyrian Provinces of Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia, Addressed to the Manchester Guardian during 1877

Although remembered today chiefly for his archaeological discoveries in Crete, Sir Arthur John Evans (1851-1941) became Britain’s leading expert on Balkan affairs after publishing his account of travelling through Bosnia in 1875 (also reissued in this series). In 1877 he returned to the region as a correspondent for the Manchester Guardian, reporting on the continuing insurrection against Ottoman rule. Evans is at pains to point out that he does not regard himself as a war correspondent, but wishes to introduce ‘in a tolerably peaceful fashion the insurgents and their little mountain territory to the English public’. Published in 1878, these letters offer historical, social and religious background to the insurrection. In so doing, they provide a valuable insight into the genesis of more recent conflicts in a region that has always been a melting pot of peoples and cultures.