Anastasius or Memoirs of a Modern Greek — the title of a book by Thomas Hope written in 1819. The hero is a Greek of considerable ability and courage but totally without conscience, who becomes renegade and goes through various adventures.
Hope (1770-1831) a novelist and writer on art, was a wealthy Amsterdam merchant of Scottish descent, his family having emigrated to Holland in the 17th century. In his younger days he spent much of his time travelling, studying architecture and collecting objects of art. He settled in London and occupied himself in arranging his vast collections. In 1807 he published a work on Household Furniture and Decoration. This was followed by two magnificent works, On the Costume of the Ancients (1809), and Designs of Modern Costumes (1812). In 1819 he astonished the literary world by his novel, Anastasius or Memoirs of a Modern Greek, a work full of imagination, descriptive power, and knowledge of the world. This book, published anonymously, was attributed to Byron and only credited to the author on his avowing it in Blackwood's Magazine. Hope also wrote a treatise on the Origin and Prospects of Man, and Essays on Architecture, the latter of which which Ruskin cited.
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Last modified 17 March 2002