This book contains 328 photographs of 19th-century Athens selected from public and private collections in Greece and abroad and placed in three categories on the basis of the evolution of photographic processes. The pictures of the city, its monuments and society go hand in hand with a sampling of representative works by the earliest photographers, to whose work the introductory texts refer. The photographs are accompanied by comments, wherever necessary, that explain or enrich the subject depicted with historical information. Indeed, regarding public figures from the city’s political or financial life, the captions are extended to cover the historic events with which the subject is associated.

The book is supplemented with biographical notes about Greek and foreign photographers, as well as a glossary of photographic terms.