Our Municipal Library has once again been enriched this year with a large number of books, donated by residents and friends of our island. Among these is the recent large donation by the Mayor of Kythira, Mr. Efstratios Charchalakis, consisting of 180 books in memory of his parents, Athanasios and Maria Charchalakis. The books belonged to the personal collection of his mother, who passed away in 2020. With these recent additions to our Library’s collection, readers have the opportunity to read rare editions of Greek and foreign books, historical albums, literary works, and publications on cultural topics.
Among the books donated by Mr. Charchalakis, we would like to highlight Claudius Ptolemy’s *Geographical Description*, which is a faithful reprint of the classic 2nd-century CE geographical work published by «MILITOS,» as preserved in Codex 655 of the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos and in Codex 388 of the Marciana Library in Venice. Claudius Ptolemy’s work records all the geographical knowledge of the era with a vast wealth of place names, precise coordinate details, and stunning cartographic representations. It’s definitely worth seeing up close!
