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A Greek Ambassador to Great Britain in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Joannes Gennadius formed a unique collection that focused on the history of Hellenism and on the appeal that Greece had on ealry modern travellers. The Mediterranean played a central part in his collecting, and Joannes had a particularly soft spot for Malta where he studied as a young boy at the English Protestant College, a school chosen by many of the leading families of Athens for their sons’ education.

While in Malta, Joannes perfected his English to such an extent that he carried off more school prizes than any of the English-speaking students. He must have retained great memories of his time there. Not only did he collect paintings, engravings, and photographs that reminded him of his favorite landscapes on the islands of Malta and Gozo, but his library contained many Greek volumes printed at the missionary presses of Malta. In fact, the Gennadius Library actively pursues the acquisition of rare imprints of the Maltese nineteenth-century printing houses to complement the original holdings of the collection.

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