Every serious student of Solomos is now indebted to Professor Louis Koutel for his foundational work "Poetic Formation of Solomos" (Hermes, 1977). Now, this new volume gathers for the first time five papers by the French dean of Solomists, all written directly in Greek from 1965 to 1989.

Four of these have been previously published in obscure journals (the following: "The Original of a Poem by Solomos," 1965, "The Translations of N. Lountzis for Solomos: The Codes of Zakynthos," 1965, "Three Grammarians of Solomos," 1967, "Observations on the Manuscript of the 'Dialogue'," 1968), while the fifth and most comprehensive ("The Old Education Behind the New Art of Solomos," 1989) is unpublished.

As he writes in his preface, "The group of the four earlier texts deals almost exclusively with topics concerning the Zakynthian years of the young poet [...] All four serve as supplements to my main work, which ends with the examination of the 'Cretan' (1833-34). In contrast, the fifth study, as it deals with an aspect of the poet's more mature art, can be considered an extension, or continuation, of that other work. Thus, this book, if I may say so, frames it."

It is noteworthy that the usefulness of the volume is multiplied by the compilation of two indexes: Main Names and Solomian References and Excerpts. Moderation is not the most common characteristic of Greek Solomists. Therefore, we find it particularly remarkable that Professor Koutel's preface concludes with the following humble hope: "Perhaps, in the end, the reader will question certain generally accepted notions about who Solomos was and what he wanted to do - as happened to me during my search."

G. P. Savvidis