Browse Items (44 total)
- Collection: Enlarging the prospects of happiness: European travel writing through the ages. Online exhibition
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A book for the tourist
This curious book proved very popular in its day, perhaps because a traveller following its prescriptions could be sure of returning with much new knowledge and a broader understanding of the world. That is, if he survived the cool reactions of the…
A compendium of authentic and entertaining voyages (1)
Smollett is best known as a novelist and historian, but his collection of voyages was popular during the second half of the eighteenth century. In his own travels, Smollett was a very grumpy character, but he clearly possessed a good idea of what his…
A compendium of authentic and entertaining voyages (2)
Smollett is best known as a novelist and historian, but his collection of voyages was popular during the second half of the eighteenth century. In his own travels, Smollett was a very grumpy character, but he clearly possessed a good idea of what his…
A journey into Greece
Dedicated to the King, this volume displays a reasonably early interest in natural history. Indeed, because Dr. Spon had published his account in French a decade earlier, and because an English bookseller had brought out a translation, Wheler had to…
A personal diary
This small vellum diary, with its middle tie, is precisely the sort of notebook an observant gentleman would be expected to carry on his travels. This traveller describes the coinages in Florence and Genoa, records epitaphs, and sketches coats of…
A polite traveller and British navigator
This 12° book, containing two volumes of an eight-volume collection, highlights the strong interest in circumnavigations among readers of every rank. The frontispiece captures the compelling sense of danger, while the title-page enumerates the…
A voyage of discovery (1)
These two illustrations provide a concise summation of European associations with North and South America and of the range of Vancouver's explorations along the eastern shores of the Pacific. To the north is the vast unpeopled landscape of the…
A voyage of discovery (2)
These two illustrations provide a concise summation of European associations with North and South America and of the range of Vancouver's explorations along the eastern shores of the Pacific. To the north is the vast unpeopled landscape of the…
Africanus' descriptions
This small book is too tightly bound to be displayed open, but its small size belies its influence. Translated first into Latin and French from Italian in 1556, the work reached English readers by 1600 and by 1632 the Elzevir firm, associated with…
An African adventure story
Bruce's story remains one of the quintessential African adventure stories, and was eagerly expected by contemporary readers. Bruce took sixteen years to publish his account, by which time Mungo Park and others had brought back further information and…
An early coffee table book
This early version of the coffee-table book provides interesting insights into assumptions about Italian life, with its lively images of landmarks, religious processions, and peasant life. Given the French title and lack of publishing information, it…
Boswell and Brydon
By the second half of the eighteenth century, the grand tour had been so frequently recounted that Boswell and Brydone both sought more remote corners of Italy. Boswell's usual irrepressible enthusiasm and undaunted effrontery secured him the…
Brice's guide to Paris
Into its seventh edition, Brice's guide to Paris clearly satisfied its customers, who needed two volumes just to appreciate what one city had to offer. Illustrations were also clearly a stong selling point, indicating that the book was appreciated at…
Cannongate
This image of Canongate during a royal procession highlights Edinburgh's loyalty to the monarch as well as its impressive modernity. Scotland was no longer the potentially rebellious or poverty-stricken northern neighbour of earlier accounts.
This…
This…
Cary's Traveller's Companion
This small volume provides the practical details needed to navigate the new road systems. Cary's maps, with the colour-coded distinctions among roads, beautifully conveys the intricate networks of communication that increasingly encouraged local…
Common phrases for travelling
This somewhat battered little book attests to its apparent usefulness for some traveller, though it is difficult to imagine that the blend of scatalogical and salacious dialogue, 'Common Talke in an Inn', could ever have proved useful in any…
Dunedin Poem
Not only does this pamphlet's content affirm that tourism can be local, but the poem by Thomas Bracken praises our local attractions over a selection of the European highlights.
Elegant picturesque views
While Boswell's impressive volume is more historical and topographical than Gilpin or Combe, his title reveals the emphasis readers and publishers placed on the 'views'. The 'pleasing effect' of St. Michael's Mount and its 'agreeable' situation with…
Florence
As a historian of his birthplace, Migliore celebrates the grandeur of Florence in this elegant guidebook.
Hotel Honolulu
A novel by one of the best-known modern travel writers, Hotel Honolulu exploits the tension between fact and fiction in travel accounts. The dust jacket claims that Theroux presents 'the essence of Hawaii as it has never been depicted', combining the…
Imaginary dialogues
These two imaginary dialogues raise serious questions about the value of the grand tour. Locke is the more sceptical speaker, and ultimately the more forceful. In refuting the traditional argument that travel exposed one to the various guises of…
India
The contents of this pamphlet are far less colourful or exotic than its cover. Although twentieth-century readers expect accurate information, we still like to imagine our voyages as adventures.
Laplanders
Smollett's collection ranged as widely as possible in all directions, and this account of Laplanders provides a nice comparison with the Webber image above.
Maps of the poles
These two maps show how little was known about Antarctica as late as 1825. Weddell managed to sail just over 200 miles farther south than Cook before fleeing the impending winter, and his record was not bettered until 1911. His book was revised and…
Markino's Rome
Although Markino's image of Rome is at least as romanticised as anything on display in the beginning of the exhibition, reader expectations have undoubtedly shifted, developing an interest in the 'personal & local', the individual experience that…