[TEPEDELENLIS: EARLY APPEARANCE OF ALI PASHA IN A GREEK HISTORICAL NOVEL] Ai teleutaiai imerai tou Ali-Pasa.

KONSTANTINOU RAMFOU [KONSTANTINOS RAMFOS, or, RAMPHOS], (1776-1871).

Ek Tis Typografias Ton Tekn. And. Koromilâ, Athinais (Athens), 1862.

Original half morocco with four raised bands to gilt spine. Second compartment has title 'Ali Pasha' in Greek. All edges marbled. Text block slightly stained. A clean copy, with minimal wear on extremities of boards and spine, with no restorations of any kind. Marbled end-papers. Demy 8vo. (21 x 14 cm). In Greek (Modern). 272 p., engraved portrait of Ali Pasha on frontispiece. This historical novel is written by Konstantinos Ramfos (1776-1871) and published in 1862, "accompanied by a new articulation of the enunciative and denotative position", is one of the most interesting cases of intertextuality in MG prose-fiction. Constantinos Ramphos was originally from Chios, he devoted himself to trade, was a member of the Hétairie, and took part in the fights of the Greek war of independence before participating in the politics of his country. He was a diplomat, and then a journalist, from 1860 he began to publish stories devoted to the heroes of the insurrection, Katsandonis, "Despot l'Epirote", Ali Pasha for example, and the most famous Halet Efendi. He mixed in his novels realism, dreams, patriotism against a historical background. Ali Pasha of Ioannina [or, Tepedelenli Ali Pasa, Tepelena or of Janina, the Lion of Yannina], (1740-1822), was an Ottoman Albanian ruler who served as pasha of a large part of western Rumelia, the Ottoman Empire's European territories, which was referred to as the Pashalik of Yanina. His court was in Ioannina, and the territory he governed incorporated most of Epirus and the western parts of Thessaly and Greek Macedonia. Ali had three sons: Muhtar Pasha, who served in the 1809 war against the Russians, Veli Pasha, who became Pasha of the Morea Eyalet and Salih Pasha, governor of Vlore. Ali first appears in historical accounts as the leader of a band of brigands who became involved in many confrontations with Ottoman state officials in Albania and Epirus. He joined the administrative-military apparatus of the Ottoman Empire, holding various posts until 1788 when he was appointed Pasha, ruler of the sanjak of Ioannina. His diplomatic and administrative skills, his interest in modernist ideas and concepts, his popular piety, his religious neutrality, his suppression of banditry, his vengefulness and harshness among historians regarding his personality. Finally falling afoul of the Ottoman central government, Ali Pasha was declared a rebel in 1820 and was killed in 1822 at the age of 81 or 82. In Western literature, Ali Pasha became the personification of an "oriental despot". His name in the local languages was: Albanian: Ali Pashë Tepelena; Aromanian: Ali Pãshelu; Greek: Αλή Πασάς Τεπελενλής Ali Pasas Tepelenlis. According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, in Western literature, Ali Pasha became the personification of an "oriental despot". In the early 19th century, Ali's personal balladeer, Haxhi Shekreti, composed the poem Alipashiad. The poem was written in the Greek language since the author considered it a more prestigious language in which to praise his master.  Alipashiad bears the unusual feature of being written from the Muslim point of view of that time. He is the title character of the 1828 German singspiel Ali Pascha von Janina by Albert Lortzing. In the novel, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, père, Ali Pasha's downfall is revealed to have been brought about by French Army officer Fernand Mondego. Unaware of Mondego's collusion with the Sultan's forces, Pasha is described as having entrusted his wife, Kyra Vassiliki, and daughter, Haydée, to Mondego, who sells them into slavery. Mondego then personally murders Ali Pasha and returns to France with a fortune. The novel's protagonist, Edmond Dantés, subsequently locates Haydée, buys her freedom, and helps her avenge her parents by testifying at Mondego's court-martial in Paris. Mondego, who is found guilty of "felony, treason, and dishonor", is abandoned by his wife and son and later commits suicide. Alexandre Dumas, père wrote a history, Ali Pacha, part of his eight-volume series Celebrated Crimes (1839-40). Ali Pasha is also a major character in the 1854 Mór Jókai's Hungarian novel Janicsárok végnapjai ("The Last Days of the Janissaries"), translated into English by R. Nisbet Bain, 1897, under the title The Lion of Janina. Ali Pasha and Hursid Pasha are the main characters in Ismail Kadare's historic novel The Traitor's Niche (original title Kamarja e turpit). Ali Pasha provokes the bey Mustapha (a fictional character) in Patrick O'Brian's The Ionian Mission to come out fighting on his own account when the British navy is in the area seeking an ally to push the French off Corfu. The Turkish expert for the British Navy visits him to learn this tangled story, which puts Captain Aubrey out to sea to take Mustapha in battle. Lord Byron visited Ali's court in Ioánnina in 1809 and recorded the encounter in his work Childe Harold. He evidently had mixed feelings about the despot, noting the splendor of Ali Pasha's court and the Greek cultural revival that he had encouraged in Ioánnina, which Byron described as being "superior in wealth, refinement and learning" to any other Greek town. In a letter to his mother, however, Byron deplored Ali's cruelty: "His Highness is a remorseless tyrant, guilty of the most horrible cruelties, very brave, so good a general that they call him the Mahometan Buonaparte ... but as barbarous as he is successful, roasting rebels, etc, etc..".  Western writers and poets such as Alexander Dumas, Lord Byron were inspired and influenced by Ali Pasha in their works. Only two copies located in OCLC 835283685 (Institut français d'études Byzantines and Sorbonne Université). A fine printing and a very early "historical novel" example in the Greek literature. First Edition. Very scarce.