Bibliography

The Complete Bent (or very nearly)!

Offered below is a bibliography listing over 150 of celebrity explorer Theodore Bent’s papers, articles, and lectures over a period of around twenty years, before his early death (aged 45) in 1897.

For more on Bent’s books, ebooks and audio, click here.

Links to available on-line sources have been added (accessed from July 2019). Many of these are freely available sources, while others are subscription only. Where possible the freely available sites are preferred. Occasionally not all of the Bents’ maps, illustrations, photographs, figures, etc., appear in electronic versions.

Apologies if the paper you are looking for has no link, or does not open (some links may be difficult, but not impossible, to access outside the US).

Please do contact us at info@tambent.com if you are aware of any reference not included or any link is broken.

You are reminded to check relevant copyright implications depending on your particular use of any of the content.

If you reproduce any entries from the following bibliography, please cite your reference as: “Accessed via the Bent Archive; www.tambent.com [date].”

Theodore Bent’s Articles, Books and Papers (prepared in 2010, updated 2024)

Theodore’s bibliography contains over 150 articles and contributions to magazines and journals – most of which are relatively easy to trace and access on-line from a number of specialist sites. The young author’s rather unfocused interests in European history are reflected in his early writings, but his annus mirabilis may be said to have been 1884, after which, following his work in the Cyclades, he launched himself on a career of archaeological and ethnographical explorations that his wife was to record in her Chronicles. From the mid-1890s Theodore’s travel, lecturing and monograph-writing commitments obliged him to cut back on his publication of articles and papers.

The bibliography that follows (2010, updated 2019) does not claim to be exhaustive, but will represent the majority of his (non-book) writings (for Bent’s books click here). He frequently allowed the ‘syndication’ of his articles, in particular to the popular US magazine Littell’s Living Age, and, where known, this has been added to the bibliographical information here.

Click for some insights into Bent’s dealings with his publishers. That he was remunerated for his articles is confirmed by a letter to Messrs William Blackwood and Son just before leaving for Great Zimbabwe in early 1891, requesting that a cheque be posted him for a previous submission (Letter dated 13 January 1891 in the William Blackwood & Son archive, National Library of Scotland [MS.4584 ff.156-157]).

For Bent’s ‘Greece’ writings only, click here. 
For Bent’s ‘Turkey  and Asia Minor’ writings only, click here. 
For Bent’s ‘Africa’ writings only, click here.
For Bent’s ‘Middle East’ writings only, click here.

For Bent’s seven monographs, only the year of publication of the first edition is referenced. Several of his books ran to several subsequent editions. 

(NB. Some links may be difficult to access outside the US)

It is 1879, Bent is 27, married two years, and his first monograph has just appeared, now read on…

1879

• “A freak of freedom; or, The Republic of San Marino”. London, Longmans, Green, and Co.

1880

• ‘Where Did Edward the Second Die?’. Macmillan’s Magazine, Vol. 41 (Nov 1879/Apr 1880), 393-4.
• ‘Where Did Edward II Die?’ (part 1). Notes and Queries, 6th Series, II, Nov. 13, 1880, 381-383.
• Where Did Edward II Die?’ (part 2). Notes and Queries, 6th Series, II, Nov. 20, 1880, 401-403.
• ‘A Visit to the Oldest State in Europe’. Fraser’s Magazine, Vol. 102, 808-15. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 148 (1881), 116ff]

1881

• ‘A Pilgrimage to Cyprus in 1395-6’. Fraser’s Magazine, Vol. 103, 818-21. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 150 (1881), 126ff]
• ‘How Waldemar, King of Denmark, Proposed to Invade England’. The Antiquary 3 (Jun), 249-52.
• ‘Life in Medieval Venice’. Fraser’s Magazine, Vol. 104, 437-47. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 151 (1881), 312ff]
• ‘Oliver Cromwell and Genoa’. The Antiquary 4 (Oct), 153-7.
• ‘Our Kinship with Russia’. The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 250, 204-12.
• ‘King Richard’s Crusade’. The Antiquary, London, Vol. 4,  (Aug 1881): 57-58.
• “Genoa, how the Republic rose and fell”. London, C. Kegan Paul & Co.
• “The Life of Giuseppe Garibaldi”. London, Longmans, Green.

1882

• ‘Cervo’. Fraser’s Magazine, Vol. 105, 107-17. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 152 (1882) 305ff]
• ‘Correspondence of Niccolò Paganini’. Fraser’s Magazine, Vol. 105, 464-76.
• ‘Extracts from ye Gild Book of the Barber-Surgeons of York’. The Antiquary 6, 154-7.
• ‘Horne Tooke’s Copy of Junius’s Letters’. Athenæum, Issue 2848 (May), 666.
• ‘Italian University Life in the Middle Ages’. The British Quarterly Review, Vol. 80 (Jul), 28-46.
• Life in Old Florence’. Fraser’s Magazine, Vol. 105, 643-55. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 153 (1882), 538]
• ‘The Cradle of Modern Commercial Enterprises’. The Antiquary 6 (Aug), 45-9.
• ‘The Funeral of the Old Pretender’. The Antiquary 5 (Jan), 23-6.
• ‘The House of Obrenovitch’. The British Quarterly Review, Vol. 76 (Oct), 378-88.
• ‘The Pole Family in Exile’. The Academy, Issue 526 (Jun), 396.
• ‘Victor Emmanuel’ [Book review]. The Academy, Issue 522 (May), 315-17.
• ‘The Tombs at Chilton’. The Antiquary, London Vol. 5,  (Feb 1882): 59-60.

1883

• ‘A Description of England Sent to Philip II. of Spain’. The Antiquary 8 (Oct), 151-3.
• ‘A Panhellenic Festival of To-day’. Macmillan’s Magazine, Vol. 48 (May/Oct), 474-80 [Tinos in the Cyclades].
• ‘A Visit to Samos’. The Academy, Issue 579 (Jun), 408.
• ‘Some Games Played by Modern Greeks’. [Samos] Athenæum, Issue 2931 (Dec), 866. [Reprinted in The Folk-Lore Journal, Vol. 2 (Feb), 57-63].
• ‘The Fall of Constantinople’. The Antiquary 7 (Mar), 100-3.
• ‘Two Books on the Van Abtevelds’ [Book reviews]. The Academy, Issue 583 (Jul), 2-4.
• ‘Two Turkish Islands To-day’. [Samos & Chios] Macmillan’s Magazine, Vol. 48 (May/Oct), 299-309. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 158 (1883), 682ff].
• ‘Ireland in 1600’. The Antiquary 8 (Jul), 106-9.

(The Athenæum for 22nd December 1883 (No. 2930, p.804) prints an announcement from The Antiquary listing some of their forthcoming 1884 highlights, including an article by Theodore Bent on ‘Some Historical Manuscripts in the British Museum’. It appears that this article, if written, was never published in The Antiquary or elsewhere.)

1884

• ‘A Journey to Manchester and Liverpool’. The Antiquary 10 (Sep), 92-4.
• ‘Easter Week in Amorgos’. Macmillan’s Magazine, Vol. 50 (May/Oct), 194-201. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 162 (1884), 402ff]
• ‘In a Greek Family of To-day’. [Chios] Macmillan’s Magazine, Vol. 50 (May/Oct), 116-24. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 162 (1884), 110ff]
• ‘In Greek Waters’. [Antiparos] The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 257 (Sep), 251-60.
• ‘Italian University Life in the Middle Ages’. The British Quarterly Review, Vol. 80. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 162 (1884), 515ff]
• ‘Phillip II.’s Correspondence about the Invasion of Ireland in 1579-80’. The Antiquary 9 (Mar), 107-9.
• ‘London in 1669’, The Antiquary 10 (Aug), 62-4.
• ‘Prehistoric Graves at Antiparos’. Athenæum, Issue 2949 (May), 569-71.
• ‘Researches among the Cyclades’. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 5, 42-59. [With J.G. Garson]
• Arthur Evans’ own copy of ‘Researches among the Cyclades’. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 5, 42-59. [With J.G. Garson], bequested to the Ashmolean, Oxford, 1941.
• ‘The Capital of the Cyclades’. [Syros] Macmillan’s Magazine, Vol. 50 (May/Oct), 426-35.

1885

• ‘A Romance of a Greek Statue’. [Sikinos] The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 258 (Feb), 172-84.
• ‘Estraidiots’. [medieval Greeks in Europe] The Antiquary 11 (Feb), 44-7.
• ‘Extracts from Diaries of Early Travel’. The Antiquary 12 (Nov), 185-8.
• ‘Michael Psellos: His Times and Writings’. The British Quarterly Review, Vol. 82 (Oct), 287-302.
• ‘My Strange Mother-in-Law’. [Andros] Longman’s Magazine, Vol. 7 (38) (Dec), 211-24. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 168 (1886), 363ff]
• ‘Notes from the Greek Islands – Surviving Customs’. [Samos, Lesbos] Athenæum, Issue 2986 (Jan), 87-9.
• ‘Old Mythology in New Apparel’. Macmillan’s Magazine, Vol. 51 (Nov 1884/Apr 1885), 366-71.
• ‘On the Gold and Silver Mines of Siphnos’. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 6, 195-8.
• ‘Rhodian Society’. Macmillan’s Magazine, Vol. 52 (May/Oct), 297-303.
• ‘Rock-Cut Tombs of Carpathos’. Athenæum, Issue 3002 (May), 606.
• ‘The Carpathiote Dialect’. Athenæum, Issue 3011 (Jul), 48.
• ‘The Islands of Telos and Karpathos’. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. VI, 233-42.
• ‘Idyls of Karpathos’. The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. CCLX (Jan -Jun), 185-190.
• “The Cyclades; Or, Life Among the Insular Greeks”. London, Longmans, Green, and Co.
• ‘Notes on Prehistoric Remains in Antiparos’. The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XIV (2) (Nov), 134-41.

1886

• ‘A Christening in Karpathos’. Macmillan’s Magazine, Vol. 54 (May/Oct), 199-205. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 170 (1886), 437ff]
• ‘An Archæological Visit to Samos’. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 7 (1886), 143-53. [With Percy Gardner]
• ‘Christmas in Chios’. Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 54 (7), 596-607.
• ‘Greek Peasant Life’. [Dodecanese] The Fortnightly Review, Vol. 40 (Aug), 214-24. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 170 (1886), 630ff]
• ‘Insular Greek Customs’. [Cyclades & Dodecanese] The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 15 (1886), 391-403. [With an Appendix by ‘Mrs. Bent’].
• ‘The Aqueduct of Samos’. Athenæum, Issue 3059 (Jun), 786-87.
• ‘The Greek Islanders’. [Cyclades & Dodecanese] The Quarterly Review, Vol. 163 (Jul), 204-31. [A synthesis by an anonymous author].
• ‘Wandering Englishmen’. The Antiquary 13 (Jan), 21-2.
• ‘The Survival of Mythology in the Greek Islands’. Archaeological Journal, 43:1, 124-136.
• ‘On a far-off island’. [Karpathos] Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine (Vol. 139, Feb 1886), 233-244).
• ‘King Theodore of Corsica’. The English Historical Review, Vol. 1, 295-307.

1887

• ‘A New Overland Route to India’. Macmillan’s Magazine, Vol. 56 (May/Oct.), 290-5.
• ‘A Peculiar People’. Longman’s Magazine, Vol. 11 (61) (Nov), 24-36. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 175 (1887), 682ff]
• ‘Astypalæa’. The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 262 (Mar), 253-65.
• ‘Why Old Basil became a monk. By J. Theodore Bent, with Three Illustrations’. The Hour Glass (March) [not seen]
• ‘Byzantine Palaces’. The English Historical Review, Vol. 2, 466-82.
• ‘Discoveries in Thasos’. Athenæum, Issue 3113 (Jun), 839.
• ‘Thasiote Tombs’. Classical Review, Vol. 1(7), 210-211.
• ‘Greater Greece and its Education’. The Fortnightly Review, Vol. 48 (42) (Aug), 267-82. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 174 (1887) 811ff]
• ‘A Thasian Decree’. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol, 8, 401-8. [With E.L. Hicks]
• ‘Inscriptions from Thasos’. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 8, 409-38. [With E.L. Hicks]
• ‘Personification of the Mysterious Amongst the Modern Greeks’. National Review, Vol. 9 (Apr), 224-33.
• ‘Revelations from Patmos’. Blackwood’s Magazine, Vol. 141 (Mar), 368-79. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 173 (1887), 243ff]
• ‘The Oven Islands’. Longman’s Magazine, Vol. 9 (53) (Mar), 512-23. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 173 (1887), 181ff]
• ‘The Season of the Twelve Days’. The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 263 (Oct), 380-91. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 175 (1887), 374ff]
• ‘The Three Evils of Destiny’. Scottish Review, Vol. 10 (20) (Oct), 369-87. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 176 (1888), 410ff]
• ‘Paganism in England’. The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. CCLXII (Jan -Jun), 31-38.

1888

• ‘A Piratical F.S.A.’. [the Turkish coast] Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 58 (11), 620-35.
• ‘A Protracted Wedding’. [Tilos] The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 265 (Oct), 331-41.
• ‘Baron Hirsch’s Railway’. The Fortnightly Review, Vol. 50 (44) (Aug), 229-39.
• ‘Constantinople’. The Classical Review, Vol. II (10), 329.
• ‘Discoveries in Asia Minor’. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 9, 82-7.
• ‘Hamdi Bey’. Contemporary Review, Vol. 54 (July/Dec), 724-33. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 179 (1888), 613ff]
• ‘Master Dallam’s Mission’. The Antiquary 18 (Jul), 5-10.
• ‘Master Dallam’s Mission’ [Concluded]. The Antiquary 18 (Jul), 55-9.
• ‘On the Slopes of Olympus’. [Brusa/Bursa, Turkey] The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 266 (Jan), 11-21. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 180 (1889), 371ff].
• ‘Parallels to Homeric Life Existing in Greece To-day’. The National Review, Vol. 11 (Aug), 825-36. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 178 (1888), 557ff]
• ‘The Home of Turkish Tobacco’. Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 58 (11), 190-9.
• ‘The Monasteries in the Air’. The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 264 (May), 475-87. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 177 (1888), 550ff]
• ‘The Pisan Game’. Archæological Review, Issue 2 (10) (Sep), 57-66.
• ‘Three Ancient Cities on the Coast of Asia Minor’. Athenæum, Issue 3161 (May), 671.
• ‘Samothrace’. The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 264 (Jan), 86-98.
• ‘Sirina’. The Classical Review, Vol. II (10), 329.
• ‘What St. John Saw on Patmos’. The Nineteenth Century, Vol. 24 (142) (Dec), 813-21.
•  ‘The Ancient Marble Commerce of Thasos’, Report of the 57th Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 201-206. London, John Murray.

1889

• ‘A Russian Monastery’. [Now the Monastery of the Holy Transfiguration, Dasochori, northern Greece] The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 267, (Sep), 239-47. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 183 (1889), 208ff].
• ‘A Scholastic Island’.[Halki/Heybeliada (Princes’ Islands/Adala), off the coast of Istanbul]
  Macmillan’s Magazine, Vol. 60 (May/Oct), 444-9. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 183 (1889), 312ff].
• ‘Inscriptions from Theangela’. [near Etrim, Turkey] The Classical Review, Vol. 3, No. 5 (May, 1889), 234-237 [E.L. Hicks, lead author].
• ‘How H.M. The Shah Travels When at Home’. The Fortnightly Review, Vol. 52 (46) (Jul), 71-6. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, 1889. Vol. 182 (1889), 457 ff.]
• ‘The Ancient Home of the Phoenicians’. The Classical Review, Vol. 3 (9) (Nov), 420-1.
• ‘The Lords of Chios’. The English Historical Review, Vol. 4 (15) (Jul), 467-80.
• ‘The Mounds of Bahrein’. Athenæum, Issue 3219 (Jul), 38.
• ‘The Sun Myths of Modern Hellas’. The Antiquary 19 (Jan), 7-11.
• ‘Inscriptions from Casarea, Lydae, Patara, Myra’. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 10, 46-85. [With E.L. Hicks] 

1890

• ‘An Excavator’s Extracts’. Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 14 (82), 406-21.
• ‘Azerbeijan: Report for the Anthropological Section (Section H) of the British Association, Appointed to Investigate the Habits, etc., of the Nomad Tribes of Asia Minor, as well as to Excavate on Sites of Ancient Occupation’. The Scottish Geographical Magazine, Vol. 6, 84-93.
• ‘Cilician Symbols’. The Classical Review, Vol. 4 (7) (Jul), 321-2.
• ‘Dr. John Covel’s Diary’. The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 268 (May), 470-89. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 185 (1890), 681ff]
• ‘Explorations in Cilicia Tracheia’. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography, Vol. 12 (8) (Aug), 445-63.
• ‘My Second Marriage’. Temple Bar, with which is incorporated Bentley’s Miscellany, Issue 90 (361) (Dec), 569-80. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 188 (1891), 49ff]
• ‘New Year’s Day in a Persian Village’. English Illustrated Magazine, Vol. 76 (Jan), 326-31.
• ‘Notes from Cilicia’. Athenæum, Issue 3258 (Apr), 443.
• ‘Recent Discoveries in Eastern Cilicia’. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 11, 231-5.
• ‘Tarsus Past and Present’. Blackwood’s Magazine, Vol. 148 (Nov), 616-25. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 187 (1890), 569ff]
• ‘The Bahrein Islands, in the Persian Gulf’. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography, Vol. 12 (1) (Jan), 1-19.
• ‘The City of the Creed’. The Fortnightly Review, Vol. 53 (47) (Feb), 220-30. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 184 (1890), 665ff]
• ‘The English in the Levant’. The English Historical Review, Vol. 5 (20) (Oct), 654-64.
• ‘The Site of Hieropolis-Castabala’. Athenæum, Issue 3273 (Jul), 104-6.
• ‘The Topography of Olba’. Athenæum, Issue 3267 (Jun), 742-4.
• ‘Notes on the Armenians in Asia Minor’. The Journal of the Manchester Geographical Society, Vol. 6, 220-22.

1891

• • • ‘A Journey in Cilicia Tracheia’. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 12, 206-24.
    • ‘Amongst the Cage-Dwellers’. Murray’s Magazine, Vol. 10 (57) (Sep), 348-61. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 191 (1891), 297ff]
    • ‘Inscriptions from Western Cilicia’. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 12, 225-73 [by E.L. Hicks, based on the Bent and others]
    • ‘A Protracted Wedding’. English Illustrated Magazine, Vol. 93 (Jun), 672-7.
    • ‘Archæological Nomads in Rugged Cilicia’. Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 149 (Mar), 377-91. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 189 (1891), 298ff]
    • ‘A Secret Religion’. [Tarsus, Turkey] Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 63 (16) (Jan), 65-74.
    • ‘In the Mountains of Media’. The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 270 (Feb), 124-39. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 189 (1891), 49ff]
    • ‘The Ansairee of Asia Minor’. The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 20, 225-6.
    • ‘The Yourouks of Asia Minor’. The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 20, 269-76.
    • ‘Village Life in Persia’. The National Review, Vol. 5 (Oct), 355-66. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 191 (1891), 747ff]
    • ‘Modern Life and Thought amongst the Greeks’, published in National Life and Thought of the Various Nations Throughout the World: A Series of Addresses (London 1891, pp. 287-302).
    • The Ruins in South Central Africa (anonymous, with the presumed collaboration of J.T. Bent) Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science, And Arts, No. 377, Vol. VIII, Saturday, March 21, 1891, pp 177-178.
    • “Lindos: The Living City of Homer – I”. Black & White, 28 February, pp. 109-10.
    • “Lindos: The Living City of Homer – II”. Black & White, 14 March, pp. 173-4.
    • “On Matabele and Mashona Lands”, E.A. Maund’s presentation to the RGS on 24 November 1890 and published in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, n.s. v.13 (1891), pp. 1-21. (In which Bent gives his first thoughts on the ruins of Great Zimbabwe as being of Persian (Sassanian) origin.)

     

  • 1892
    • ‘Among the Chiefs of the Bechuanaland’. The Fortnightly Review, Vol. 57 (51) (May), 642-54. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 194 (1892), 37ff]
    • ‘Mashonaland and its Inhabitants’. The New Review, Vol. 6 (May), 580-92. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 194 (1892), 44ff]
    • ‘On the Ruins of Mashonaland’. British Association for the Advancement of Science, Report of the Annual Meeting 1892, Vol. 62, 538-45.
    • ‘The Geography of the Zimbabwe Ruins in Mashonaland’. British Association for the Advancement of Science, Report of the Annual Meeting 1892, Vol. 62, 816.
    • ‘The present inhabitants of Mashonaland, and their origin’. British Association for the Advancement of Science, Report of the Annual Meeting 1892, Vol. 62, 900-1.
    • ‘The Road from Mashonaland’. The Fortnightly Review, Vol. 57 (51) (Feb), 182-93. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 193 (1892), 160ff]
    • ‘The Ruins of Mashonaland, and Explorations in the Country’. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography, Vol. 14 (5) (May), 273-98.
    • ‘Early Voyages and Travels in the Levant‘, published by the Hakluyt Society, edited by, and with an introduction by, J. Theodore Bent on the formation and history of the Levant Company of Turkey Merchants and biographical notes and extracts of the diaries of Master Thomas Dallam and Dr. John Covel.
    • “The ruined cities of Mashonaland; being a record of excavation and exploration in 1891”. London, Longmans, Green and Co.
    • ‘The Two Capitals of Armenia (Sis and Etchmiadz՝m)’. Eastern and Western Review (page numbers n/a).
    • ‘The Geography of the Zimbabwe Ruins in Mashonaland’. The Journal of the Manchester Geographical Society, Vol. 7-8, 295-300.
    • “The Discoveries at Great Zimbabwe”. The Graphic,  27 February 1892, 267.
    • “Pre-Mahomedan Relics – Excavations at the Great Zimbabwe”. Black & White, 2 April, 430.
    • “Some remarkable remains at Zimbabwe” (A paper read at the meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of London, Thursday, May 12, 1892). Published in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London (ser.2 v.14 1891/93, pp.165-169).

    1893

    • ‘From the Heart of Abyssinia’. Illustrated London News, 8 April 1893.
    • ‘In the North of Abyssinia’. Illustrated London News, 6 May 1893.
    • ‘Mashonaland and its People’. Contemporary Review, Vol. 64 (Jul/Dec), 642-53. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 199 (1893), 749ff]
    • ‘On the Finds at the Great Zimbabwe Ruins: With a View to Elucidating the Origin of the Race that Built Them’. Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 22, 124-36.
    • ‘On the Origin of the Mashonaland Ruins’. The Nineteenth Century, Vol. 34 (Dec), 991-7.
    • ‘The Ancient Trade Route across Ethiopia’. The Geographical Journal, Vol. 2 (2) (Aug), 140-6.
    • ‘The Ruins in Mashonaland’. The Geographical Journal, Vol. 2 (5) (Nov), 438-41.
    • ‘The Tribes of Mashonaland and Their Origin’. Scottish Geographical Magazine, Vol. 8, 534-39.
    • ‘Under British Protection’. The Fortnightly Review, Vol. 60 (54) (Sep), 365-76. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 199 (1893), 235ff]
    • “The sacred city of the Ethiopians : being a record of travel and research in Abyssinia in 1893”. London, Longmans, Green and Co.

    1894

    • ‘Expedition to the Hadramut’. The Geographical Journal, Vol. 4 (4) (Oct), 315-31.
    • ‘The Hadramut: A Journey in Southern Arabia’. The Nineteenth Century, Vol. 36 (211) (Sept), 419-37. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 203 (1894), 81ff]

    1895

    • ‘Exploration of the Frankincense Country, Southern Arabia’. The Geographical Journal, Vol. 6 (2) (Aug), 109-33.
    • ‘Muscat’. Contemporary Review, Vol. 68 (Jul/Dec), 871-82. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 208 (1896), 169ff]
    • ‘The Land of Frankincense and Myrrh’. The Nineteenth Century, Vol. 38 (224) (Oct), 595-613. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 207 (1895), 342ff]
    • ‘The Exploration of Southern Arabia – Report of the Committee’. Report of the Sixty-Fifth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Ipswich 1895, John Murray, pp. 491ff.
    • ‘The People of Southern Arabia’. Report of the Sixty-Fifth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Ipswich 1895, John Murray, p.835.

    1896

    • ‘A Visit to the Northern Sudan’. The Geographical Journal, Vol. 8 (4) (Oct), 335-53.
    • ‘On the Dervish Frontier’. The Nineteenth Century, Vol. 40 (236) (Oct), 580-95. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 211 (1896), 523ff]
    • ‘Italy. The Italians in Africa’. The Fortnightly Review, Vol. 66 (60) (Sept), 363-72. [Reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, Vol. 211 (1896), 67ff]
    • ‘Travels amongst the Armenians’. The Contemporary Review, Vol. 70 (Jul/Dec), 695-709.
    • ‘The Slave-Trade on the West Coast of the Red Sea’, The Anti-Slavery Reporter and Aborigines’ Friend, May-July 1896, 163.

    1897

    • ‘The Island of Socotra’. The Nineteenth Century, Vol. 41 (244) (Jun), 975-92.

    Posthumous (prepared by Mabel Bent from her Chronicles and Theodore’s material)

    1898

    • ‘Exploration in the Yafei and Fadhli Countries’. The Geographical Journal, Vol. 12 (1) (Jul), 41-63;
    • ‘Sokotra’. Journal of the Manchester Geographical Society, Vol. 14, 315-16.
    • ‘The Island of Sokotra (Read at the Meeting of the British Association, Bristol, 1898)’. The Scottish Geographical Magazine, Vol. 14 (12), 629-36.

     

  • 1900“Southern Arabia” (Theodore and Mabel Bent). London, Smith, Elder and Co.
    

    The Bents’ notebooks and diaries

    The originals are held in the archive of the Hellenic Society, London. They have been scanned and are now available on open access.

    Publications by Mabel Bent

    1902

    “The Monoliths of Aksum” (Mrs. Mabel V.A. Bent), Records of the Past, Vol.III, Part II, February, pp. 34-42.

    1912

    A series of Wall-Maps of the Holy Land/Palestine (co-produced with her sister Frances Hobson and referred to as the Bent-Hobson maps).

    1918

    “The Garden Tomb Maintenance Fund”, by Mrs. J. Theodore Bent, in ‘The Covenant People’, Journal of the Imperial British-Israel Association (not seen).

    Mabel’s three other books

    “A Patience Pocket Book, plainly printed, put together by Mrs Theodore Bent”, Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith, 1903/4.

    “Anglo-Saxons from Palestine, or, The imperial mystery of the lost tribes”, London : Sherrat & Hughes, 1908.

    “The Garden Tomb, Golgotha and the Garden of Resurrection”, (with Arthur William Crawley-Boevey and Miss Hussey (c. 1920, Jerusalem: Committee of the Garden Tomb Maintenance Fund).

    Other related material 

    1891

    ‘Voyage d’exploration dans la Cilicia Tracheia, par M. J.-Théodore Bent’

     

    1894

    D.H. Müller, Epigraphische Denkmäler aus Abessinien Nach Abklatschen von J. Theodore Bent, Esq. (Vienna, 1894). Analyses of copies of inscriptions taken by Bent in Aksum and elsewhere in 1893.

    1897

    Two Months in Sokotra (by Ernest N. Bennett). Longman’s Magazine. v. 30 (May-Oct. 1897), pp. 405-413. [Bennett was the Bents’ ‘paying guest’ on this trip (early 1897, and Bent’s last), and his account, although in part unpleasant in today’s terms, is of value.]

    Published articles, events, etc., on the Bents

    “When is a Menorah a ‘Menorah’? Text and Realia from Asia Minor“, by Mark Wilson, in IMAGES (October 2024), https://doi.org/10.1163/18718000-12340187 (not open access). Referencing Bent’s “… pioneering research […] Theodore Bent called attention to the importance of symbols at sites in Rough Cilicia. He illustrates nineteen symbols found on fortresses and lintels around Olba that he found during his travels [1888-90].”

  • “The Bents’ archaeological expedition to Great Zimbabwe in 1891 and the prominent part played by Mabel Bent“, by Mike Tucker (2024, online at ZimfieldGuide.com).
    

  • “To Anafi for a Name”, in search of the identity of the Bents’ dragoman, Manthaios Simos, by Gerald Brisch, in MondoGreco, Spring 2003.
  • “The Travel Chronicles of Mabel Bent”, by Gerald Brisch and Brenda Stones, in Chris Stray (ed.) Travellers to Greece: 21-30. London: The Classical Association, London (2006).
    

    ‘With Theodore and Mabel Bent in Southern Arabia (1893-1897)’, by Gerald Brisch, British-Yemeni Society Journal, Vol. 18, 26-32 (2010).

    ‘Mabel Hall-Dare: Chronicles of Mrs. Theodore Bent’ (in the blog Georgian Gems, Regency Reads & Victorian Voices, 17 December 2018, by Janeite Kelly).

    ‘Tackling Africa – The Resourceful Mrs J Theodore Bent’, by Gerald Brisch.  A paper based on a presentation given on 2 July 2014 at the SCOLMA conference in Birmingham – ‘African Trajectories: Travel and the Archives’, and published in African Research and Documentation (ISSN 0305-862X) 125 (2014): 11-28.

    ‘Socotra Island: The Bent Expedition and Mrs. Bent‘, by S. Perez, in The Spinnerette, Issue 2: Monocentropus Balfouri, 2019, pp. 16-24, (not seen).

    “Theodore and Mabel Bent in Southern Arabia”, the British Library’s ‘Untold Lives Blog’ for 8 June 2016.

    “Exploring, Supporting and Collaborating: Mabel Bent in the Hadhramaut and Beyond (1893-1897)”, A lecture by Dr Holly O’Farrell, Leiden University, 5 July 2022, in association with ‘The Brussels Map Circle’. Venue: Leiden University, Plexus Building, Kaiserstraat 25, 2311 GN Leiden.

    “James Theodore Bent on Santorini“, in 2 Board – the official Athens Airport Magazine, Blue Issue, August 2020 – October 2020 (includes a few paragraphs translated into Greek from Bent’s chapter on Santorini in his The Cyclades, or life amongst the insular Greeks (1885).

    Alice Norton, ‘Mabel Virginia Anna Bent – Explorer’, in Carloviana 2023, the Journal of the Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society (Dec. 2022, pp.117-123, contains 10 figures, including four unpublished watercolour sketches by J.T. Bent – in the Dodecanese, on Sokotra, in Adoua, in Zimbabwe).

    Mathilde Pyrli, “Deliciously primitive”: Insular Greece through the Eyes of Theodore Bent, 1883–1888. A paper presented in: ‘Greece in Victorian Popular Culture’, REVICTO International Conference, Athens, 8–9 April 2022. An extended version to appear (early 2025 [eBook published 10 September 2024]) in The British School at Athens – Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies series volume: Victorians and Modern Greece: Literary and Cultural Encounters (edited by Efterpi Mitsi and Anna Despotopoulou), Routledge (DOI: 10.4324/9781003394235-9).

    Meteora: “The Monasteries in the Air” in the Victorian periodical press, 1880 and 1888. An article in REVICTO, 01/03/2022.

    “Island Attractions? Travel Writing on the Cyclades from the Middle Ages Until the Modern Day”, by Dr Ina Berg, in Mediterranean Studies 20(1), 2012, Penn State University Press (open access, viewed 6 April, 2023).

    Rock Art of Soqotra, Yemen: A Forgotten Heritage Revisited, by Julian Jansen van Rensburg. 2018, Arts/ MDPI open access journals (accessed 27/04/2023).

    “The Socotra Notebooks of Theodore and Mabel Bent (1896/1897)”, by Gerald Brisch, in The Friends of Soqotra Newsletter, Issue 19, 2022, pp.10-12.

    “Contemplating Women’s Imperial Service: Mabel Bent as Photographer, Travel Writer, and Collector”, by Esther Wetzel, in New American Studies Journal, Issue 74 (2023), Göttingen University Press (doi.org/10.18422/74-1394).

    “A Woman’s Work is Never (Un-)Done: A Response to ‘Contemplating Women’s Imperial Service: Mabel Bent as Photographer, Travel Writer, and Collector’, by Esther Wetzel”, by Verena Laschinger, in New American Studies Journal, Issue 74 (2023), Göttingen University Press (doi.org/10.18422/74-1395).

    “Under the Syrian Sun” (Mabel Bent at Haifa 1908/9), by Sister Maria, in The British Journal of Nursing (13 March 1909, 213-215).

    “Mabel Bent”. A short, anonymous, ‘AI’ YouTube video feature on Mabel Bent (October 2023). Do not rely on all the biographical details. The photograph is not Mabel Bent.

    Mabel Bent, in “Trowel Blazers: Women in archaeology” (free ACL workshop with British Museum on 18.10.21). A YouTube video of a lecture given by Dr Katharine Hoare on a selection of women active in archaeology who had links with the British Museum. The section on Mabel Bent starts at about 4 minutes in (uploaded here, Oct 2023).

    “Osteological analysis of the Early Bronze Age human remains excavated from Antiparos in the 19th century”. Laura Ortiz Guerrero (Unpublished Master’s Dissertation, University of Sheffield, Department of Archaeology, 2023).

    “Between Archaeology, Ethnology and Art: Greek Embroideries in Late Victorian Britain”, a contribution by Lenia Kouneni to the workshop ‘Rethinking Victorian Mediascapes’, at the University of St Andrews on 2 February 2024. Dr Kouneni talked “about Greek embroideries in Victorian Britain, focusing on Theodore and Mabel Bent as archaeologists and collectors”.

    “Prejudices and superstitious practices in 19th-century Karpathos – The Case of James Theodore Bent”, by Minas Houvardas (from his book Karpathos – In the corner of the archipelago (2024), appearing in Karpathiaka Nea, Jan 2024.

    “How NOT to Describe People Who Are Foreign to You: Exoticizing Omanis”, by Dr. Marielle Risse, in her blog “Come from Away” (Nov. 2024), in which the author includes a section on the Bents in Oman (November 1894-February 1895).

     

    “‘Ya Mabel’ and the Duchess: A Victorian but Modern, Female Traveler and a Modern but Victorian, Female Traveler in Southern Oman”, a presentation by Dr Marielle Risse (Dhofar University) at “Navigating Networks: Women, Travel, and Female Communities: An Interdisciplinary Conference”, Travel Cultures Seminar Series, University of Oxford, 4 October 2013.

    “British collecting in Ethiopia, 1769 to 1972 : travellers, military expeditions, museums and royal gifting” by Alexandra Watson-Jones (2024). This thesis explores the role of material culture in interactions between the two countries and their inhabitants, and considers what objects can reveal about those relationships. Among many others, it examines collecting carried out by J. Theodore and Mabel Bent in 1893.

    May Crommelin (1901), ‘Lesser Lares’ (From the Collection of Mrs. Theodore Bent). The Connoisseur: an illustrated magazine for collectors. pp. 161-4.

    Le Misteriose Rovine Della Rhodesia: Zimbabue Sarebbe La « Ophir » Della Bibbia ?, by A. Ghisleri in Emporium 1895, Vol. XXIV, pp. 386-398. A copiously illustrated (including from original photographs by Mabel Bent) article on discoveries by Bent, inter alia, at Great Zimbabwe in 1891.

    Ricerche e studi sull’ Etiopia, by C. Conti Rossini, in Bollettino Della Società Geografica Italiana (1900, pp. 105-115) [An article on contemporary Ethiopian research, including a review of the explorations by the Bents in 1893]

  • Other bibliographies

See also the French portal Persée for a selection of references to the Bents.As well as the very extensive Bent Bibliography available via our own site, another free online source for Bent’s monographs is the one managed by “The Online Books Page”, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania.