Part of the library of historian Philippos Iliou

Part of the library of Philippos Iliou was donated to the Foundation by his wife Maria. The library’s items focus on the history of the Greek Enlightenment, Greek book history, and recent Greek history. It also includes rare 19th-century religious books, as well as literary and philological periodicals.

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Philippos Iliou (1931-2004) was a historian, philologist, and bibliographer. He was the son of EDA MP Ilias Iliou. He graduated from the Experimental High School of Athens in 1950, but since he did not possess a certificate of social beliefs, he was not allowed to take the entry exams for the Greek university. He studied at the Sorbonne and the École Pratique des Hautes Études, where he completed a doctoral dissertation on “Reading in Greece during the Greek Enlightenment and the War of Independence(1749-1832).” During the dictatorship, he fled to Paris, where he engaged in anti-dictatorial activities. In 1974, he returned to Greece and continued his political activities in leftist organizations until the end of his life. His academic activity was also significant. Before the dictatorship, he was a founding member of the Centre for Marxist Studies and Research. He was a member of the editorial board of the journal “O Eranistis” and the Board of Directors of the Greek Enlightenment Study Group, co-founder of the journal “Ta Historika.” He was a founding member and President (from 1992) of the Archives of Contemporary Social History, as well as a member of the editorial board of their periodical publication “Archeiotaxio.” He was also the Director of the series “Neo-Hellenic Studies” at Hermes Publishing House (1976-1987). He focused on the history of the Greek Enlightenment, the printed book, and reading, authoring numerous related books and articles and participating in scientific meetings and conferences. His bibliographic research was particularly significant. In 1986, he established the “Book Workshop” at ELIA (now the “Philippos Iliou Book Workshop” at the National Library of Greece), aiming to serve as a research laboratory for the social history of the book and, by extension, the social history of education. The most important result of his bibliographic studies was the “Greek Bibliography of the 19th Century,” a systematic recording of 19th-century Greek-language books, in collaboration with Popi Polemi.