Chandler was introduced to the Society of the Dilettanti by Robert Wood and commissioned to undertake a tour of exploration in Asia Minor. This was the first independent mission of the Society of Dilettanti, and its members included Nicolas Revett as architect and William Pars, artist. Chandler was to produce the historical material. They embarked in June 1764 and returned in November 1766. The expedtion produced three important works - The Ionian Antiquities 1769-1797, Inscriptiones Antiquae, 1774 and the two volumes of Travels [of which this is the first]. The Travels are based on Chandler’s journals and with their publication “Chandler immediately established himself as the pre-eminent traveller in Greece. Nothing so detailed nothing so good had been published since the Wheler and Spon…” (Spencer, p164). He gives us a picture of the daily life of the expedition, accounts of local customs and contemporary life“ (Navari). Blackmer, 318.
