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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…
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…
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…
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.
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.
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…
Pressed flowers
This handbook is included as evidence of other uses to which travel guides may be put. One can easily imagine a character in A Room with a View placing a favourite flower into his or her Baedeker. Someone certainly did so with this volume, though we…
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.
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…
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…
Settlement of Australia
The frontispiece to this gorgeous volume captures the adventure associated with the settlement of Australia. Though the documents do not constitute a travel narrative, their connections with the moment of origin provide their intended readers with…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Travel advertisements
These advertisements inevitably evoke a longing for the past. As we trundle our luggage through airports, the idea of a servant seems most appealing. While the grandeur of train stations like Dunedin's meant that accommodation nearby was the most…
The antiquities of Athens, measured and delineated
In 1742 James Stuart went to London where he met Nicholas Revett. With support from English travellers and residents in Rome, they raised funds and issued proposals for a ‘new and accurate description of the Antiquities &c. in the Province of…
Tvtte l'opere d'archittetvra, et prospetiva
In his seven-volume Tutte l'opere d'architettura that first appeared in 1584, Serlio aimed to provide a practical manual of architecture while avoiding explicit theory. As such the work became one of the most influential of all publications on…
Roma aeterna Petri Schenkii
This publication by Amsterdam publisher and engraver Peter Schenk is typical of those that were appearing at the turn of the 18th century. The page shown depicts the ruins of the aqueduct the Aqua Marcia. It conveyed water to both the baths of…
Le terme dei Romani
This drawing of Diocletian's Baths can be traced to Andrea Palladio. The Bertotti-Scamozzi illustrations in this volume follow those included by the English architect, Lord Burlington, in his study of the Baths of the Romans, Fabbriche Antiche…
The ruins of Pæstum
The Greek temples at Paestum in southern Italy were almost unknown until the 1750s. They became better known through publication. This book by Thomas Major was one of the first that enabled architects of Northern and Western Europe to study the three…