A4+ - 100+ sheets. Massive plain black prisma paper photo album with glassine inserts. Hand dyed and polished kangaroo leather finished in Dark Red (mix of Red, Carmine, London Tan and Brown). Main feature is a hand carved pewter sculpture of 'The Kiss' of Eros and Psyche in front of the Parthenon. Hand carved gold border winds around the entire album. Four ridges on spine. Text carved into the front cover reads "GREECE HONEYMOON" in white letters.
    The story of Eros and Psyche is the basis of the fairytale "Beauty and the Beast". A beautiful princess named Psyche had become so famous for her beauty that men were beginning to say that she was even more lovely than Aphrodite herself. Aphrodite, goddess of love, sent her son Eros to cause Psyche to fall in love with an ugly monster, but instead Eros fell in love with Psyche. Eros was kind and gentle, and his words were loving and sweet, but he would not allow Psyche to see his face. Her sisters encouraged her to find out if he was a terrible monster and she tried to glimpse his face by the light of an oil lamp - the oil dripped and woke him and he fled. Aphrodite was still unhappy and set many impossible tasks for Psyche, which she completed with secret help from Eros. Eventually Zeus said that Eros had proved his love for Psyche and made Psyche immortal so that she could live with Eros on Mt Olympus, happily ever after.
   The Parthenon, on the highest part of the Acropolis (high city) in Athens, was dedicated to Athena Parthenos (Parthenos means virgin). Begun in 447 BCE, the temple was dedicated in 438 and remained a temple for almost a thousand years. Sometime around the 5th century the building was converted into a Christian church. When the Turks conquered Athens in 1458 they turned the Parthenon into a mosque. In 1687 a Venetian army besieged the Turkish garrison on the Acropolis. At this time the Turks were using the Parthenon as a powder magazine. On 26 September 1687 the Parthenon sustained a direct hit from a Venetian shell and the powder stored there exploded. Most of the interior walls of the temple were destroyed.
   The album is sewn in French style with three reinforcing ribbons. Oxford hollow back, revolutionary black headbands. Black prisma endpapers.
Cover: 360mm W x 265mm H (14.17 x 10.43in). Page: 350mm W x 255mm H (13.78 x 10.04in). Weight: 3.730kg (8.22lb)
International Order: Tania Agrawal (New Jersey) 26 Dec 2003 - 23 Aug 2004