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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…
The Holy Land
This beautiful set of books provides a fascinating visual and textual introduction to the Middle East and North Africa. This image of the Sphinx, with its mellow shadowing and tiny human figures for perspective, conveys the stark awe of Europeans…
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…
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…
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…
Wanderings in South America
This book first appeared in 1825, though this edition, with its handsome binding, was printed much later, probably in 1894. Although Waterton's style is clearly dated and, to our ears, rather pompous, his work has been often reprinted even in the…
Venice
Published in Paris, in French, Silvestre's book is the only guidebook in the case clearly intended for a foreign audience. Drawing upon knowledge gained from several trips to Italy, he published engravings of the highlights and thus embarked on a…
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 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…
Thicknesse's account
Another popular account, Thicknesse proceeds more regularly than Pratt or Sterne, but their influence and elements of the picturesque are evident in the looming hills and the pious or pitiable pilgrims in the foreground. This account exemplifies the…
Sydney Opera House
Famous buildings and plazas appear throughout this exhibit, but they usually became tourist attractions only upon completion. This 1965 pamphlet celebrated what the Sydney Opera House hoped to become. Would any reader be interested today if the…
Spiritual guides
Typical of a whole class of spiritual guides to Rome, this little volume lists the holy sights and quantifies the redemptive value of visiting each in terms of indulgences and remission of sins. If one had only a limited time to spend in Rome, such a…
Sotheby's musings
Sotheby's youthful poems eagerly evoke the picturesque, and the engravings added to this second edition only heighten that sensibility. An evocation such as 'Hail, solemn wreck!' (10) does not connote praise, and the beauty of the moonlit ruin proves…
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 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…
Pisa
Although the tower of Pisa was already leaning by its completion date in 1370, not all seventeenth-century pictures show the slant as clearly as this one. From a family of booksellers, engravers, typographers and cartographers, Pietro Bertelli drew…
Sydney Parkinson, botanical draughtsman
Sydney Parkinson, botanical draughtsman on Cook's first voyage, died before returning to London, and his papers found their way to the library of Joseph Banks. Parkinson's brother, Stanfield, eventually obtained the papers, after a bitter public…
Millenium Hall
Although Millenium Hall is fictional, the title-page presents it as a domestic tour, and the explicitly 'improving' aim of the work is not out of keeping with other travels of its day. John Newbery, to whom Scott dedicates her book, was the first…
Milan
Not to be outdone by Venice, Pisa and Rome, Milan found her own historian in Carlo Torre. This engraving shows one of the oldest surviving Roman colonnades in the city, but does not lavish too much detail on the surroundings, consigning them to a…
Michelin man
The Michelin man seems slightly thin by comparison with his modern counterpart, but the insistent endorsement of Michelin products is as modern as any web-page advertising. At this date, the guides had not yet adopted the star rating system and did…
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…
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…
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.
Sandys' journey
Remembered as a translator of Ovid and the Psalms, Sandys was initially a great traveller both to the east and then to the American colonies. This map of Jerusalem is carefully constructed to accompany Sandys's narrative; the reader proceeds in…