The first depictions of the area are found in the editions of the Accademia Cosmografica degli Argonauti, founded by V.M. Coronelli (from 1686 to the first decade of the 17^th century). These editions, with hundreds of copper engravings, exalt the victories of Venice during the Ottoman-Venetian war (1684-1687), and include drawings and plans of the castle and city of Volos. Identical copies of these drawings or variations thereof illustrate reeditions and translations of Coronelli's works and later travel chronicles, historical treatises and geographic editions (Ol. Dapper, 1688). The engravings in the 1708 works by V. M. Coronelli are highly appealing, although most plates repeat subjects already published in earlier editions of the Accademia Cosmografica degli Argonauti.The editions by J. Enderlin include copies of engravings found in earlier or nearly contemporary popular works (1686). The editions by J. Peeters in the late 17^th century (1686 and 1690) also exalt the victories of the Holy League in the Ottoman-Venetian wars. The plates show cities, ports and other locations in Austria, Southeastern Europe, the eastern Mediterranean and places in Asia all the way to India and Saudi Arabia.

The work by J. Lauremberg (1660) includes excellent engravings of maps of ancient Greece. The maps are accompanied by historical and geographical explanatory texts, which testify to the author's deep erudition.

In the early 19^th century, the safe as well as important port of the Pagasetic gulf is mapped in the port index by J. Roux (1804), while the volume by O.M. von Stackelberg (1830) with its splendid lithographs, includes the earliest panorama of the Pagasetic gulf, in which the natural beauty of the area is highlighted. Stackelberg was able to render historical locations and antiquities in accordance with the emerging tendency of romanticism (1834). Stackelberg, the traveller-artist, depicts women from Pelion in their distinctive costume in another of his works (1828).  The magnificent plates by Ed. Dodwell (1819) provide a wealth of information on public and private life of the Greeks in the pre-revolutionary period. The Italian artist S. Pomardi (1820) accompanied Edward Dodwell in his archaeological explorations and drew several subjects at the scholar's request. Pomardi's drawings are characterized by clarity and concision. The plates in the work of Ed. Dodwell (1834) show uncommon and original views of less known archaeological sites.

A few years later, views of the area, executed in a novel style reminiscent of impressionism, are included in the highly successful work by Chr. Wordsworth, which is a historical narrative on Greece rather than a travel account (1882 reedition).

The Album of 1984 includes rare and very interesting wood engravings taken from the  pioneering weekly review “The Illustrated London News” (1842-1885) and the similarly themed magazine “The Graphic” (1869-1885). The plates depict locations, people and events (political, social and military), from 1842 to 1885.

The prolific Irish scholar J.P. Mahaffy wrote an account of his tour of Greece (1890), illustrated with exquisite wood engravings. The plates were etched from pencil drawings, which in their turn were based on imaginary representations and photographs. The French cartoonist H.L. Avelot (1899) made original sketches of people and scenes of everyday life, and created highly innovative material which pushed other artists to create similar illustrations inspired from their travels.

Written by Ioli Vingopoulou