Classic travel writing Books

Book SynopsisErnest Shackleton sailed to the South Pole as the First World War broke out in Europe, intent on making the first ever trans-Antarctic crossing. South! is Shackleton's first-hand account of the epic expedition, which he described as 'the last great journey on earth'. During the journey their ship, the Endurance, became trapped by ice and was crushed, forcing the men to survive in and escape from one of the world's most hostile environments. With no hope of rescue, Shackleton and four others set sail in a small open boat on a 600-mile crossing to South Georgia. Shipwrecked on the uninhabited side of the island, they were forced into making the first ever winter crossing of the island, all the time threatened by brutal cold and hunger. South! made Shackleton's name as an explorer. The dramatic story, one of the most astonishing feats of Polar escapology, remains as enthralling now as when it was first published in 1919. Stanfords Travel Classics feature some of the finest historical travel writing in the English language, with authors hailing from both sides of the Atlantic. Every title has been reset in a contemporary typeface to create a series that every lover of fine travel literature will want to collect and keep.

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Book SynopsisRobert Louis Stevenson was not only a gifted writer, he was also an indefatigable traveller. His thirst for adventure was formed by his boyhood visits to remote Scottish lighthouses, and he spent much of his life fleeing the rigours of cold climates and social orthodoxy. Along the way he canoed through Belgium and France, booked passage to and across America, and finally famously settled in Samoa in the South Seas. The walking trip that Stevenson describes in Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes (1879) was taken when the nascent author was still in his twenties and pining for a lost love. Accompanied by Modestine, the eponymous donkey he hired to carry his camping gear, the journey proved both challenging and charming. The book is infused with all of the qualities that make Stevenson the most popular of writers: humour and humanity, poetry and perspicacity, ebullience and intelligence. Stanfords Travel Classics feature some of the finest historical travel writing in the English language, with authors hailing from both sides of the Atlantic. Every title has been reset in a contemporary typeface to create a series that every lover of fine travel literature will want to collect and keep.

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Book SynopsisInvention, passion, war and exile are but some of the elements in this revealing new insight into Paddy Leigh Fermor's many Romanian journeys. Starting with the `great trudge' on foot through Romania in 1934 and ending in 1990 with his assignment for The Daily Telegraph following the fall of Ceausescu, The Vagabond and The Princess by Alan Ogden unravels the tapestry of fact and fiction woven by Paddy and reveals in detail the touching story of the love affair between the youthful writer and Balasa Cantacuzino, a beautiful Romanian Princess. After a poignant parting on the eve of the Second World War, they were reunited some twenty-five years later and remained in close touch until her death. Paddy had been the great love of her life. Alan Ogden brings great insight into this enduring and touching relationship as well putting into context the glamorous lost world of pre-WW2 Romania.Table of ContentsPreface A Note on Paddy's usage of place names and titles Part 1 - 1934 Chapter 1 - Romania in 1934 Chapter 2 - Hungarian Hosts and Hostesses Chapter 3 - The Secret Journey Chapter 4 - Bucharest 23 October - 14 November 1934 Part 2 - 1935-1945 Chapter 5 - Descriptio Moldaviae Chapter 6 - Baleni Part 3 - 1946-1965 Chapter 7 - The Curtain Falls Chapter 8 - Toutes les Tristesses du Monde Part 4 - 1966-2017 Chapter 9 - Romania Revisited Bibliography Acknowledgements

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Book SynopsisThe Road to Angkor describes a journey through Indo-China from the ancient capital of Champa (now south Vietnam) to Angkor, capital of the old Khmer empire in Cambodia. Christopher Pym originally went to Indo-China in 1956. He stayed 20 months and during 1957 made the seven-week journey described in this book. He travelled the 450 miles on foot, seeking to trace an ancient Khmer road, which may have linked Angkor to the coast. Overcoming the hazards of tigers, a blocked frontier and the rigours of Asian life at peasant level, and ignoring rumours of wars in Vietnam, he set off into the jungle with a small group of tribesmen. His picture of rural, Buddhist Cambodia, now independent, is of an interesting and little-known country. He describes conditions there and in Vietnam with knowledge and understanding, and gives a fascinating account of the varied customs of tribes found right off the beaten track.

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Book SynopsisThe small island archipelago of St Kilda, which rises majestically from the stormy waters of the North Atlantic, has a magic and allure which is both enduring and inexplicable. For centuries, St Kilda’s remoteness (it lies sixty miles west of the Scottish Hebrides), together with the way of life of its inhabitants, has attracted huge attention from outsiders, who have been fascinated by this small community literally clinging to the edge of the world. Although St Kildans were always few in number (the population was under 100 when Hirta, the only inhabited island, was evacuated in 1930), their society was extraordinarily well developed – they famously had their own daily ‘parliament’, at which the men of the island would meet and discuss the tasks of the day. This remains a work of vital importance for the understanding of this fascinating island society.

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Book SynopsisA journey across Greece, Turkey and the Middle East, which retraces the one made by Pythagoras some 2500 years ago in his quest to discover 'the theory of everything'.

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Book Synopsis“The art of travelling is only a branch of the art of thinking,” Mary Wollstonecraft wrote in one of her many reviews of works of travel writing. A Short Residence is her own travel memoir. In a series of letters addressed to an unnamed lover, the work narrates Wollstonecraft’s journey through Scandinavia in 1795, on much of which she was accompanied by her infant daughter. Passionate and personal, A Short Residence is at once a moving epistolary travel narrative, a politically-motivated ethnographic tract, a work of scenic tourism, and a sentimental journey. It is both as much a work of political thought as Wollstonecraft’s better known treatises, and a brilliant, innovative, and influential work in the genre.This Broadview edition provides a helpful introduction and extensive appendices that contextualize this remarkable text in relation to key political and aesthetic debates. It also includes a significant selection from Wollstonecraft’s travel reviews.Trade Review“Since its publication in 1796, Wollstonecraft’s Short Residence has been recognized as her most beautiful and alluring work. A travelogue in letters, it is also a sophisticated experiment in genre. Historical reflection, ethnography, political and economic critique, philosophical reverie, and feminist memoir all take their turns as Wollstonecraft maps the limits of her idealism. Horrocks’ edition does justice to the magnificence and complexity of these Letters. The appendices alone provide material for an entire course in contemporary travel-writing, linking it to literary, philosophical, sentimental, and feminist concerns. An unparalleled achievement for Wollstonecraft scholarship and Romantic Studies.” — Mary Favret, Indiana University, Bloomington“Ingrid Horrocks’ broad-ranging introduction and selection of appendices function as a highly useful interpretive guidebook to the travel writings that they accompany. The judicious survey of texts concerning the revolutionary debate, late-eighteenth-century travel narratives, sentimental journeying, and biographical documents related to Wollstonecraft’s Scandinavian travels enable readers clearly to envision just how widely, and into what still-unsettled territories, Wollstonecraft’s travel writing extends. Horrocks’ emphasis on Wollstonecraft’s role as business partner augments the series of poses (ethnographer, mother, victim) that scholars have ascribed to ‘the little hero of each tale,’ thereby further loosening the boundaries between sentiment and calculation that Wollstonecraft’s entire life-writings work to achieve.” — Julie Carlson, University of California, Santa BarbaraTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsList of AbbreviationsIntroductionMary Wollstonecraft: A Brief ChronologyA Note on the TextLetters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, andDenmarkAppendix A: Wollstonecraft and the Revolutionary Debate From Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790) From Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) From Wollstonecraft, “Letter Introductory to a Series of Letters on the Present Character of the French Nation” (1793) Appendix B: Two Other Responses to the French Revolution From Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) From Helen Maria Williams, Letters Written in France, in the Summer of 1790 (1790) Appendix C: Biographical Documents Related to Wollstonecraft’s Travels in Scandinavia Gilbert Imlay’s Commission Appointing Wollstonecraft as His Agent (1795) Wollstonecraft’s Letter to Andreas Peter Bernstorff, Prime Minister of Denmark (1795) Wollstonecraft’s Letters to Gilbert Imlay (1798) Appendix D: Wollstonecraft’s Reviews of Travel Writing from the Analytical Review, 1789-92 From Review of Letters from Barbary, France, Spain, Portugal, etc, by an English Officer (1789) From Review of Hester Lynch Piozzi, Observations and Reflections, Made in the Course of a Journey through France, Italy and Germany (1789) From Review of William Gilpin, Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales (1789) From Review of Richard Warner, A Companion in a Tour round Lymington (1789) From Review of William Hamilton, Letters Concerning theNorthern Coast of the County of Antrim (1790) From Review of J[ohn] Hassell, Tour of the Isle of Wight (1790) From Review of Samuel Ireland, A Picturesque Tour through Holland, Brabant, and Part of France (1790) From Review of Helen Maria Williams, Letters Written in France, in the Summer, 1790 (1790) From Review of John Meares, Voyages Made in the Years 1788 and 1789, from China to the North-West Coast of America (1791) From Review of William Gilpin, Three Essays: On Picturesque Beauty; on Picturesque Travel; and on Sketching Landscape (1792) Appendix E: Some Examples of Late Eighteenth-Century Travel Writing in Various Modes From Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Reveries of the Solitary Walker (1782) From Gilbert Imlay, A Topographical Description of the Western Territory of North America (1792) From William Coxe, Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark (1784-90) From Helen Maria Williams, A Tour in Switzerland (1798) Appendix F: Two Sentimental Encounters From Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy (1768) From Wollstonecraft, The Wrongs of Woman: Or, Maria. A Fragment (1798) Appendix G: Contemporary Reviews of A Short Residence Analytical Review (1796) The Monthly Mirror (1796) The Monthly Review (1796) British Critic (1796) Appendix H: Godwin’s Framing of A Short Residence From William Godwin, “Preface,” Posthumous Works of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1798) From William Godwin, Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1798) Works Cited/Select Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe beautiful city of Venice has been a fantasy land for people from around the globe for centuries, but when Polly Coles and her family left England for Venice, they discovered a city caught between modern and ancient life. The Politics of Washing is a fascinating window into the strange and unique place Venetians call home.Trade Review'No one should go to Venice without reading this book.' Blueguides.com 'No book as thoughtful, perceptive and humane on Venice...has appeared since William Dean Howells wrote his Venetian Life in 1886.' -- Jonathan Keates Times Literary Supplement 'More cerebral than most Venetian travelogues or fictions...Coles clearly has ample knowledge but also the wit to have travelled light.' -- Caroline Jackson The Spectator 'Eloquent.' The New York Times 'A riveting account of ordinary life in an extraordinary place, packed with charming anecdotes that will have readers hooked on Venetian life.' -- Woodburn Independent 'The Politics of Washing is a readable memoir, at times funny, enjoyable, and feels very real.' Luxury Reading 'A funny, humbling tale of one family's attempt to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world.' Cayocosta72 Book Reviews Paul White, deputy vice-chancellor, University of Sheffield, is reading Polly Coles' The Politics of Washing: Real Life in Venice (Robert Hale, 2013). "Coles' background is in teaching and anthropology, and she recently moved with her family (including her Italian husband) to Venice. Here she brilliantly unmasks the prejudices and idiosyncrasies of the Venetians themselves, as well as mass tourism's impact on the city. Coping with Italian bureaucracy is never easy, but the added complexities of formal and informal rules governing life in a city that is slowly dying as a real place of residence are fascinating. Recommended for anyone about to visit or revisit Venice: I've been there many times and I now see the city in new ways." -- Paul White Times Higher Education

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Book SynopsisIn 1890, the thirty-year-old Chekhov, already knowing that he was ill with tuberculosis, undertook an arduous eleven-week journey from Moscow across Siberia to the penal colony on the island of Sakhalin. Now collected here in one volume are the fully annotated translations of his impressions of his trip through Siberia and the account of his three-month sojourn on Sakhalin Island, together with his notes and extracts from his letters to relatives and associates. Highly valuable both as a detailed depiction of the Tsarist system of penal servitude and as an insight into Chekhov’s motivations and objectives for visiting the colony and writing the exposé, Sakhalin Island is a haunting work which had a huge impact both on Chekhov’s career and on Russian society.Trade ReviewAs a work of literature, Sakhalin Island is a masterpiece of restrained, dignified, unsentimental prose … a work of complete seriousness, full of clear, humane, practical suggestions for reform. * The Observer *Mr Reeve’s work reminds one that Chekhov was as great a master of the documentary genre – and also of the best academic prose – as of drama and narrative fiction … Sakhalin Island will never eclipse The Cherry Orchard. But it is every bit as impressive a masterpiece, and this new version will surely make its merits more widely known. * TLS *

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Book SynopsisMary Montagu was one of the most extraordinary characters in the world. She was a self-educated intellectual, a free spirit, a radical, a feminist but also an entitled aristocrat and a society wit with powerful friends at court. In 1716 she travelled across Europe to take up residence in Istanbul as the wife of the British ambassador. Her letters remain as fresh as the day they were penned: enchanted by her discoveries of the life of Turkish women behind the veil, by Arabic poetry and by contemporary medical practices - including inoculation. For two years she lovingly observed Ottoman society as a participant, with affection, intelligence and an astonishing lack of prejudice.Trade Reviewone of the best narrative travel books ever written by an Englishwoman. Dervla Murphy

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Book SynopsisA modern classic on exploring and understanding the Antarctic, the most uncharted place on our planet. Terra Incognita is a meditation on the landscape, myths and history of one of the remotest parts of the globe, as well as an encounter with the international temporary residents of the region - living in close confinement despite the surrounding acres of white space - and the mechanics of day-to-day life in extraordinary conditions. Through Sara Wheeler, the Antarctic is revealed, in all its seductive mystery.''Antarctica could hope for no better chronicler: spirited, humorous and highly intelligent, she is also a writer of rare talent'' ObserverTrade ReviewAntarctica could hope for no better chronicler: spirited, humorous and highly intelligent, she is also a writer of rare talent * Observer *Penetrating, vivacious and often amusing, Wheeler's record has a sharp authenticity * The Times *She writes with a consistent wry wit... she never lacks empathy, compassion or generosity for people whose values, background and gender were the polar opposite of hers...What she has done could not be done better * Independent *Her book is an impressive achievement, one genuinely brushed by the ghosts of the past -- Beryl Bainbridge * Literary Review *Terra Incognita deserves to be a bestseller...a wonderful book and terrific corrective to the polar bulldust periodically emitted by Sir Ralph Wotsisname and others of his ilk * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisTwain's account of travelling in Europe, A TRAMP ABROAD (1880), sparkles with the author's shrewd observations and highly opinionated comments on Old World culture, and showcases his unparalleled ability to integrate humorous sketches, autobiographical tidbits, and historical anecdotes in a consistently entertaining narrative. Cast in the form of a walking tour through Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy, A TRAMP ABROAD includes among its adventures a voyage by raft down the Neckar and an ascent of Mount Blanc by telescope, as well as the author's attempts to study art - a wholly imagined activity Twain 'authenticated' with his own wonderfully primitive pictures included in this volume.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series Trade Review“[A Tramp Abroad] is delicious, whether you open it at the sojourn in Heidelberg, or the voyage down the Neckar on a raft, or mountaineering in Switzerland, or the excursion beyond the Alps into Italy.” —William Dean Howells

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Book SynopsisEven in the last two decades of the nineteenth century, Isabelle Bird, by then an established travel writer, was able to refer to the Malay Peninsula as an almost unknown land. Travelling back from Japan, the intrepid travel writer stopped off in Singapore where the British Colonial Secretary offered her the opportunity to vist the native states of the Western Archipelago. Because she had such a good introduction, she went and was taken everywhere by local officials. And so Miss Bird''s journey was less rugged than her many other trips, but, rather more comfortable and well connected, she enjoyed it immensely.Table of ContentsINTRODUCTORY CHAPTER The Aurea Chersonesus-The Conquest of Malacca-The Straits Settle­ments-The Configuration of the Peninsula-A Terra Incognita-The Monsoons-Products of the Peninsula-The great Vampire-Beasts and Reptiles- Malignant and harmless Insects-Land and Water Birds-Traditions of Malay Immigration-Wild and Civilised Races Kafirs-The Samangs and Orang-utan -Characteristics of the Jakuns-Babas and Sinkehs-The Malay Physiognomy-Language and Literature-Malay Poetry and Music-Malay Astronomy-Edu­cation and Law - Malay Sports - Domestic Habits - Weapons - Slavery and Debt Bondage-Government- No Information. Letters I to X, A CHAPTER ON SELANGOR. Letters XIV to XVII, A CHAPTER ON PERAK. Letters XVIII to XXIII.

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Book SynopsisA River Captured explores the controversial history of the Columbia River Treaty and its impact on the ecosystems, Indigenous peoples, contemporary culture, cross-border politics and recent history of the Pacific Northwest.The Columbia River Basin is a vast region in North America, primarily located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and parts of Canada. It covers portions of seven U.S. states: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, and Utah, as well as the Canadian province of British Columbia. The basin is defined by the watershed of the Columbia River and its tributaries, making it one of the largest river basins in North America.Long lauded as a model of international co-operation, the Columbia River Treaty governs the storage and management of the waters of the upper Columbia River basin, a region rich in water resources and with a natural geography well suited to hydroelectric megaprojects. The Treaty also displaced more than 2,000 residents of over a dozen communities, flooded and destroyed archaeological sites, and upended once-healthy fisheries.Paying special attention to First Nations history, ecology, economics, politics, and CanadaUS relations, this investigative work weaves from the present day to the past and back again in an engaging and unflinching examination of how and why Canada decided to sell water storage rights to American interests.With one of the Treaty's provisions set to change in 2024 and termination of the treaty requiring a 10-year notice period, this updated edition of A River Captured looks at the destructive mistakes of our collective past in order to save us from an even more difficult future

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Book SynopsisSamuel Johnson’s Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and James Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides are widely regarded as among the best pieces of travel writing ever produced. Johnson and Boswell spent the autumn of 1773 touring Scotland as far west as the islands of Skye, Raasay, Coll, Mull, Ulva, Inchkenneth and Iona. Highly readable, often profound, and at times very funny, their accounts of the ‘jaunt’ are above all a valuable record of a society undergoing rapid change. In this pioneering new edition, Ronald Black brings together the two men’s starkly contrasting accounts of each of the thirteen stages of the journey. He also restores to Boswell’s text 20,000 words from his journal which were denied entry to his book because they were intimate, defamatory, or about the islands rather than Johnson. The endnotes incorporate Boswell’s footnotes, translations of Latin passages, a clear summary of pre-existing information on the two texts, and a fresh focus on what the two men actually found on their trip. To the Hebrides also includes contemporary prints by Thomas Rowlandson, seventeen new maps and a comprehensive index.Trade Review'Their shifting view of some events is often hilarious. The story should be of particular interest to the many Canadians with Scots ancestry (as it is to this Welshman, who has none) and, best of all as a reminder of English as She Should be Writ, but Alas No Longer Is' * Toronto Globe and Mail *'It is always pleasurable when a reviewer can recommend a book unreservedly. Congratulations to Ronald Black and Birlinn, To the Hebrides is a stunning achievement' * Northwords Now *

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Book SynopsisLewen Weldon was mapping the eastern desert of Egypt when World War I broke out. A fluent Arabic speaker, he was recruited to run a network of spies and confidential agents who were landed from a steam yacht onto the Syrian coast behind Turkish lines. He took his men to the shore in small boats at night, which also allowed him to land and conduct personal interviews before returning back through the surf. This vivid tale of adventure becomes eyewitness history as we encounter Armenians escaping the massacres, passionate Arab nationalists, resolute Turkish soldiers and a heroic network of Jewish volunteers. Weldon s modesty and self-deprecating Irish wit, complete with a few prejudices, take us to the vivid heart of his experience, in which each man depended for his life on his colleagues. This is a story that simply had to be told. 'We were extraordinarily lucky with our agents. I don t think more than seven were actually captured. Six of these were hanged and one had his head cut off.'Trade ReviewAn Irish surveyor unexpectedly finds himself Captain of a spy ship dropping and retrieving secret agents along the Levant coast during WWI. A Lawrence of the sea, Weldon s memoirs are vivid, spiced with courage, knowledge and humanity; a gripping read, as well as a core document of British military intelligence in the Levant. The author comes across as brave, honest, and unpretentious, his book a rare treat chock-full of spies, danger, intrigue and unflinching service to a noble cause. - T. J. Gorton

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Book SynopsisPious Pilgrims, Discerning Travellers, Curious Tourists: Changing patterns of travel to the Middle East from medieval to modern times comprises a varied collection of seventeen papers presented at the biennial conference of the Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East (ASTENE) held in York in July 2019, which together will provide the reader with a fascinating introduction to travel in and to the Middle East over more than a thousand years. As in previous ASTENE volumes, the material presented ranges widely, from Ancient Egyptian sites through medieval pilgrims to tourists and other travellers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The papers embody a number of different traditions, including not only actual but also fictional travel experiences, as well as pilgrimage or missionary narratives reflecting quests for spiritual wisdom as well as geographical knowledge. They also reflect the shifting political and cultural relations between Europe and the Near and Middle East, and between the different religions of the area, as seen and described by travellers both from within and from outside the region over the centuries. The men and women travellers discussed travelled for a wide variety of reasons — religious, commercial, military, diplomatic, or sometimes even just for a holiday! — but whatever their primary motivations, they were almost always also inspired by a sense of curiosity about peoples and places less familiar than their own. By recording their experiences, whether in words or in art, they have greatly contributed to our understanding of what has shaped the world we live in. As Ibn Battuta, one of the greatest of medieval Arab travellers, wrote: ‘Travelling — it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller!’Table of ContentsIntroduction – Paul and Janet Starkey ; 1. Pilgrimage as Travel – Jacke Phillips ; 2. Ibn Jubayr’s Riḥla Reconsidered – Paul Starkey ; 3. ‘Gardens of Paradise’ – Janet Starkey ; 4. ‘Wady Ghrásheca’: an unknown Christian site in Sir Gardner Wilkinson’s unpublished manuscripts from the Eastern Desert – Jan Ciglenečki & Blaž Zabel ; 5. Exploring the Ottoman Empire: the travels of Peter Mundy (1597–c.1667) in Turkey 1617–1620 – Jennifer Scarce ; 6. With a radius most accurately divided into 10,000 parts: John Greaves and his scientific survey of Egypt in 1638–1639 – Ronald E. Zitterkopf ; 7. Dimitrie Cantemir, the ‘Orpheus of the Turkish Empire’ (1673– 1723) – Cristina Erck ; 8. The Artist William Page (1794–1872) and his travels in Greece and western Turkey in the first half of the nineteenth century – Brian J. Taylor ; 9. Jacob Röser: a Bavarian physician travelling the Ottoman Empire in 1834–1835 – Joachim Gierlichs ; 10. Publishing with ‘Modern Taste and Spirit’ – Paulina Banas ; 11. ‘Mr and Mrs Smith of England’: a tour to Petra and east of Jordan in 1865 – David Kennedy ; 12. Anton Prokesch-Osten Jr (1837–1919) – Angela Blaschek ; 13. William Wing Loring, George Brinton McClellan and Ulysses S. Grant: American Civil War Generals in Egypt during the 1870s – Mladen Tomorad ; 14. Consular Agents and Foreign Travellers in Upper Egypt in the Nineteenth Century – Terence Walz ; 15. A Luxor Room with a View at Pagnon’s Hotels – Sylvie Weens ; 16. Richard A. Bermann, the Desert and the Mahdi: an Austrian writer’s fascination with Egypt and the Sudan – Ernst Czerny ; 17. Unlawful Acts and Supernatural Curses: the fictional traveller in Bram Stoker’s The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903) – Rebecca Bruce ; Notes on Contributors ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe Life and Works of Robert Wood (1717-1771) commemorates the Irish classicist and traveller on the 250th anniversary of his death and provides the general reader with a study that can be regarded as a source book for the fascinating life and career of a much-neglected figure in the realm of Irish eighteenth-century travels and antiquarianism. The book starts by setting the context of eighteenth-century travels to the east and then examines the primary sources emanating from Wood’s own eastern voyages, as well as the relevant literary sources available to him before, during, and after his travels. It then provides an extensive and much-needed biographical account of Robert Wood, with particular reference to his Irish and English patrons, before examining the main results of the second tour (1750-1751), namely his three pioneering books: Ruins of Palmyra (1753), Ruins of Balbec (1757), and The Original Genius of Homer (1775). It ends by considering the enormous legacy of Robert Wood, in terms of the popularity of his books; the variety and quality of portraits commissioned by his friends and associates; his contribution to the study of classical literature; his influence on architectural drawing in late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe; and the cultural significance of his work on building design. The text also reflects on the somewhat questionable nature of his works, in terms of the fact that his second voyage of the east, and the entire production of the first two books, were financed by his friend Dawkins, whose wealth derived from a slave plantation in Jamaica.Table of ContentsList of Figures ; Foreword ; Acknowledgements ; Dedication ; Introduction ; Eighteenth-Century British Travellers in the East ; A British Extension of the Grand Tour ; Motives for Undertaking the Eastern Voyage ; Eighteenth-Century Interest in the East ; The Role of Learned Societies and Academies ; The Sources ; Part 1: Primary Sources as Evidence for Wood’s Eastern Travels ; Part 2: Literary Sources Available to Robert Wood Prior to His First Eastern Voyage (1742-1743) ; Part 3: Literary Sources Available to Robert Wood for His Second Eastern Voyage (1750-1751) ; Biographical Account of Robert Wood ; Early Life ; Education ; First Grand Tour and Eastern Voyage (1738-1743) ; Third Grand Tour and Eastern Voyage (1749-1751) ; Third Grand Tour as Tutor to the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater (1754-1755) ; Wood Settles in London ; Death and Posthumous Matters ; Ruins of Palmyra (1753) ; Physical Description, Structure, Publication and Price of the Book ; Preface ; Immediate Reception of the Book ; Narrative ; Explanation of the Plates ; Ruins of Balbec (1757) ; Physical Description, Structure, Publication and Price of the Book ; Preface ; Immediate Reception of the Book ; Narrative ; Explanation of the Plates ; The Original Genius of Homer (1775) ; Development of the Book ; Physical Description and Structure of the Book ; Publication and Price of the Book ; Preface ; Immediate Reception of the Book ; Narrative ; Conclusion ; Brief Analysis of the Essay ; A Comparative View of the Ancient and Present State of the Troade ; Illustrations and Map ; Brief Analysis of the Comparative View ; Conclusion: The Legacy of Robert Wood ; Translations and Further Editions of Robert Wood’s Books ; Portraits of Wood ; Wood’s Contribution to the Study of Classical Literature ; Wood’s Contribution to Architectural Drawing in Late Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Europe ; The Cultural Significance of Wood’s Work on Building Design ; Epilogue ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book Synopsis'There are not so many places left where magic reigns without interruption and of all those I know, the coast of Lycia was the most magical.' Lycia, on the southwestern coast of Turkey, is an ancient land steeped in mystery, myth and legend. Home to the fiery chimera and to the great heroes Sarpedon and Penderus; heartland of worship for the goddess Leto and her children Apollo and Artemis; old ally of Troy, lure to conquering Cyrus and Alexander and to centuries of travellers, artists and writers - Lycia, part of the 'Turquoise Coast' now attracts more tourists to her glimmering shores than any other part of Turkey. In the early 1950s, following the trail of ancient Persian and Greek traders, Freya Stark set out by boat to explore the Lycian coast. She was guided by the traces of Lycia's rich history and cultural heritage. For all those who now follow in her wake, there can be no better, more evocative or knowledgeable guide to this, Turkey's most enchanting coast.Trade ReviewShe has written the best travel books of her generation and her name will survive as an artist in prose. * The Observer *Table of ContentsIllustrations Maps Foreword by Colin Thubron 1. The Voyage of Elfin 2. Chios: The Defeat of Athens 3. Samos: The Double Code 4. Patmos to Calymos: Time 5. Island Pirates: Adventure 6. Cos to Halicarnassus: Captivity 7. Cnidus: The Persian Governor 8. The Doric Peninsula: Decadence or Transition 9. Loryma: The Persia Gold 10. The Rhodian Peraea: Civilisation and the Middle Class 11. Caunus: Alexander's Road 12. Xanthus: The Lycian Federation 13. Aperlae: Loyalty and the Mercenaries 14. Myra: The Fold 15. The Chelidonian Cape: Magic 16. Chimaera to Phaselis: The Pool of Time Dates References Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA many-tangented pilgrimage through ten centuries of Spain's history, its politics, its art, literature and architecture, its climate and its people, in which Nooteboom unlocks doors to an undiscovered Spain and reveals his obsession for a country he has come to know intimately over the course of forty years.Trade ReviewOne of the great books about Spain -- Tristan Garel-Jones * Observer *His prose is as sturdy as a good Rioja, and equally delicious -- Sara WheelerWith this immensely attractive book, Cees Nooteboom joins a select band of writer... who have the rare ability to evoke the soul of a nation. No one with a feeling for Spain should fail to read this book * Daily Telegraph *Invites the reader to share the excitement, experiences, even food, that the author has encountered while weaving his way through [Spain] slowly and deliciously... Mr. Nooteboom lingers in out-of-the-way places most tourists miss * New York Times Book Review *Nooteboom plunges fervently into the fabric of Spain itself * San Francisco Chronicle *

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Book SynopsisThis book is described as being 'in a genre all its own'. Truly it is. Simeon the cat has two ambitions. the first is to become famous, which is why he writes this book, and the second is to meet the White Rabbit. While pursuing these goals, he takes time to air his views on Oxford, Mr Bean, the internet, on how the British do not value words, and on a while host of other things. He guides us through Oxford's history, landmarks and legends, and provides an entertaining and original introduction to the city. Over-confident in his ability to reason, he enjoys talking with academics and students. All use their real names in the story - Profs of Physics and Medieval German, and postgraduate students. He creates havoc in Blackwell's, discovers an unpublished poem. by Gerard Manley Hopkins, and lays plans to take the grin off the face of the Cheshire Cat. Does he really meet the White Rabbit? It seems he does! Oxford is unique in so many ways. It is the only city in the world where one is in and out of stories all the time. Morse, Mr Bean, Bridgehead, Dickens, Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter. There is no book that does the job of this one in linking story to reality. It's laugh-out-loud funny, in a dry, sixth-form-humour way. You'll love it!Table of ContentsHow it all began. PREFACE By the typist PART I: Simeon, a Very Oxford Cat PART II Simeon's First Big Adventure PREFACE TO PART III By the typist: Preparing for Simeon's next trip PART III The first day of the following month

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Book SynopsisFounded by Alexander the Great over 2,300 years ago, Alexandria has belonged both to the Mediterranean and to Egypt, a luxuriant out-planting of Europe on the coast of Africa, but also a city of the East - the fabled cosmopolitan town that fascinated travelers, writers, and poets in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, where French and Arabic, Italian and Greek were spoken in the cafes and on the streets. In the pages of An Alexandrian Anthology, we follow the delight of travelers discovering the strangeness of the city and its variety and pleasures. Most of all they are haunted by the city's resplendent past - the famous Library, the temple built by Cleopatra for Antony, the great Pharos lighthouse, one of the seven wonders of the world, of which only traces remain - we follow our travelers here too as they voyage through an immense ghost city of the imagination.Trade Review"Not a scholarly treatise, An Alexandria Anthology is a small piece of art--a combination of Haag's rich sensibilities of Egyptian history and Ms. Fatiha Bouzidi's exquisite sense of book design. She also designed his Vintage Alexandria (AUC Press, 2008). The two collaborators complement each other beautifully. An Alexandria Anthology is a rare artifact right out of a Ptolemaic tomb."--Bruce Redwine, International Lawrence Durrell Society

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Book SynopsisRooms of Their Own travels around the world, examining the unique spaces in which famous writers created their most notable work. Table of ContentsIntroduction Isabel Allende Maya Angelou Margaret Atwood W.H. Auden Jane Austen James Baldwin Honoré de Balzac Ray Bradbury The Brontës Anton Chekhov Agatha Christie Colette Roald Dahl Charles Dickens Emily Dickinson Arthur Conan Doyle Ian Fleming Thomas Hardy Ernest Hemingway Victor Hugo Samuel Johnson Judith Kerr Stephen King Rudyard Kipling D.H. Lawrence Astrid Lindgren Jack London Hilary Mantel Margaret Mitchell Michel de Montaigne Haruki Murakami George Orwell Sylvia Plath Beatrix Potter Marcel Proust J.K. Rowling Vita Sackville-West George Bernard Shaw Zadie Smith Danielle Steel Gertrude Stein John Steinbeck Dylan Thomas Mark Twain Kurt Vonnegut Edith Wharton E.B. White P.G. Wodehouse Virginia Woolf William Wordsworth Visitor Information Index Picture credits

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Book SynopsisUnpublished for 90 years, Agatha Christie's extensive and evocative letters and photographs from her year-long round-the-world trip to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and America as part of the British trade mission for the famous 1924 Empire Exhibition.In 1922 Agatha Christie set sail on a 10-month voyage around the British Empire with her husband as part of a trade mission to promote the forthcoming British Empire Exhibition. Leaving her two-year-old daughter behind with her sister, Agatha set sail at the end of January and did not return until December, but she kept up a detailed weekly correspondence with her mother, describing in detail the exotic places and people she encountered as the mission travelled through South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Canada.The extensive and previously unpublished letters are accompanied by hundreds of photos taken on her portable camera as well as some of the original letters, postcards, newspaper cuttings and memorabilia Trade Review‘A compelling, entertaining and joyful read. It is the people she meets along the way for whom she saves her best prose… It is they, and her wonderful descriptions of them, that make this book as enjoyable as any of her novels.’ – SUNDAY EXPRESS ‘The 32-year-old Agatha is confident, full of laughter, and sharply observant. She misses none of the local gossip… We can see an author gathering material for future use – the courting couples, elderly clergymen, spinsters, male secretaries, gouty ex-army officers, and vamps with kohl-ringed eyes, who form Agatha Christie’s typical cast of characters. The long sea voyages, sleeping compartments and dining cars will become the train in Murder on the Orient Express or the paddle steamer in Death on the Nile.’ – DAILY MAIL

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Book Synopsis'She has written the best travel books of her generation and her name will survive as an artist in prose.' - The Observer Written just after the Second World War, Perseus in the Wind (named after the constellation) is perhaps the most personal, and haunting, of all Freya Stark's writings. She muses on the seasons, the effect light has on a landscape at a particular time of day, the smell of the earth after rain, Muslim saints, Indian temples, war and old age. Each chapter is devoted to a particular theme: happiness (simple pleasures, like her father's passion for the view from his cabin in Canada); education (to be able to command happiness, recognise beauty, value death, increase enjoyment); beauty (incongruous, flighty and elusive - a description of the stars, the burst of flowers in a park); death (a childhood awareness of the finality of time, the meaningfulness of the end); memory (the jewelled quality of literature, pleasure, love, an echo or a scent when aged by the passage of time). For those who have loved her travel writing, Perseus in the Wind illuminates the motivations behind Freya Stark's journeys and the woman behind the traveller.Trade ReviewIt was rare to leave her company without feeling that the world was somehow larger and more promising. Her life was something of a work of art... The books in which she recorded her journeys were seductively individual... Nomad and social lioness, public servant and private essayist, emotional victim and mythmaker. -- Colin Thubron * New York Times *Few writers have the capacity to do with words what Faberge could do with gems - to fashion them, without violating their quality. It is this extraordinary talent which sets Freya Stark apart from her fellow craftsman in the construction on books on travel. * The Daily Telegraph *Freya Stark remains unexcelled as an interpreter of brief encounters in wild regions against the backdrop of history. * The Observer *One of the finest writers of our century. * The New Yorker *A Middle East traveller, an explorer and, above all, a writer, Freya Stark has, with an incomparably clear eye, looked toward the horizon of the past without ever losing sight of the present. Her books are route plans of a perceptive intelligence, traversing time and space with ease. * Saudi Aramco World *Table of ContentsForeword 1. The Pagan Gown 2. Service 3. Happiness 4. Education 5. Beauty 6. Death 7. Memory 8. Individuals 9. The Artist 10. Style 11. Words 12. Giving and Receiving 13. Women’s Education 14. Mutability 15. Love 16. Sorrow 17. Choice and Toleration 18. Travel 19. Courage 20. Old Age Epilogue Notes

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Book SynopsisPictures from Italy is one of Charles Dickens' earlier works, a fantastic and whimsical foray into the twin worlds of travel and the imagination. Written in the 1840s when he took a respite from the writing of novels and traveled with his family to the continent, it is a travelogue offering a rare glimpse into the life of the great author. In this illustrated edition, Italian artist Livia Signorini takes inspiration from Dickens' words and plays with his sense of place, memory, and politics. The result is a brilliant contemporary dialogue with his work - a reading of history, time and change - which renews our sense of his enduring vision. Pictures from Italy is a tribute to the world of the great master in the 200th year of his birth.

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Book SynopsisIn 1869, Hayyim Habshush, a Yemeni Jew, accompanied the European orientalist Joseph Halévy on his archaeological tour of Yemen. Twenty years later, Habshush wrote A Vision of Yemen, a memoir of their travels, that provides a vivid account of daily life, religion, and politics. More than a simple travelogue, it is a work of trickster-tales, thick anthropological descriptions, and reflections on Jewish–Muslim relations. At its heart lies the fractious and intimate relationship between the Yemeni coppersmith and the "enlightened" European scholar and the collision between the cultures each represents. The book thus offers a powerful indigenous response to European Orientalism. This edition is the first English translation of Habshush's writings from the original Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew and includes an accessible historical introduction to the work. The translation maintains Habshush's gripping style and rich portrayal of the diverse communities and cultures of Yemen, offering a potent mixture of artful storytelling and cultural criticism, suffused with humor and empathy. Habshush writes about the daily lives of men and women, rich and poor, Jewish and Muslim, during a turbulent period of war and both Ottoman and European imperialist encroachment. With this translation, Alan Verskin recovers the lost voice of a man passionately committed to his land and people.Trade Review"Alan Verskin has provided a masterful translation of Hayyim Habshush's gripping account of his travels and a rare and intimate glimpse into Jewish and Muslim life in the Arabian hinterlands. A Vision of Yemen should be of great interest not only to students and scholars of Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern history, but also to the wider audience of travel literature."—Norman A. Stillman, University of Oklahoma"A Vision in Yemen reveals Hayyim Habshush's remarkable curiosity about his own society in nineteenth-century Yemen and its ancient history. With his masterful translation, Alan Verskin elucidates time and place for modern readers, bringing Habshush and his European interlocutors to life."—Brinkley Messick, Columbia University"Alan Verskin's book goes a long way in countering the various orientalist tropes that have often characterised our understanding of Yemeni Jews by rendering accessible the travelogue A Vision of Yemen....It enhances our understanding of encounters between East and West, and more importantly is a testament to Muslim-Jewish relations in the Middle East just as cacophonous sectarian voices dominate the region's public discourse."—Thanos Petouris, Asian Affairs

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Book SynopsisA collection of writing from Britain's best-loved travel writer, ‘A Merry Dance around the World’ is the culmination of a lifetime of adventure.Trade Review'Newby is an incomparable, shrewd and witty travel writer … Immensely enjoyable' John Mortimer, Mail on Sunday 'Newby has quite rightly established himself as one of the sharpest, funniest and most boisterously entertaining of all travel writers' Sunday Telegraph 'Cost me a lot of sleep because it was too enjoyable to put down' Peter Lewis, Daily Mail 'Still holds the laurels as the country's wittiest travel writer. A Merry Dance Around the World is a collection of all the master's best traveller's tales from a lifetime's travel writing. It is an astonishing catalogue of disasters and misunderstandings, but it had me laughing so uncontrollably, my wife eventually forbade me from reading it in public' Sunday Times 'In the increasingly popular realm of travel writing, Eric Newby has acquired Homeric status . . . The extract from Love and War in the Apennines, arguably one of the best travel books ever written, shows Eric Newby at his most scintillating, and the chapter from A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush includes the most luminous moment in modern travelling history' Daily Telegraph 'Whatever Eric Newby writes, I read with uncritical pleasure. The Newby travels are classics of their time' Financial Times 'Keeping up with Eric Newby, every breathless puff and pant of it, is worth it all the way. His vitality, which was always more than most people's, gets bigger and his writing richer and funnier' Observer 'Compassionate and hilarious' Independent on Sunday 'Wonderful stuff' Wanderlust’

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Book SynopsisAn anthology of writings and photographs celebrating the outstanding contribution of one of the country's most distinguished and enduring travel writers, and the century's greatest living explorer.At the age of twenty-three, three years after attending the coronation of Haile Selassie, Thesiger made his first expedition into the country of the murderous Danakil tribe. Since then he has traversed the Empty Quarter twice, spending five years among the Bedu, followed by several years living as no Westerner had in the strange world of the Marshmen of Iraq.Later he made many mountain journeys in the awesome ranges of the Karakorams, the Hindu Kush, Ladakh and Chitral. After these varied and often dangerous adventures among fast-disappearing cultures, Thesiger settled down to spend over twenty years living mostly among the pastoral Samburu in Northern Kenya, until 1994 when he finally returned to England permanently.These experiences have, over the years, provided rich material for writings Trade Review‘One of the very few people who in our time could be put on the pedestal of the great explorers of the 18th and 19th centuries.’ David Attenborough ‘He belongs to an endangered species; he is one of the last, great gentlemen explorer-adventurers of our time.’ Richard Holmes ‘He dwells in a Homeric age of exploration and travel writing, an age before sponsorship and television tie-ins. He stands as a monolith against trash consumerist and trash celebrity culture.’ Sara Wheeler

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Book SynopsisThis work examines the travel account of a German baroque author who journeyed in search of silk from Northern Germany, through Muscovy, to the court of Shah Safi in Isfahan. Olearius introduced Persian culture to the German-speaking public; his appraisal of Persian customs prepares the way for German Romanticism's infatuation with Persian poetry.

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Book SynopsisThe ultimate travel companion for voracious voyagers.Do you yearn for a life off the beaten track? Brought to you by Wanderlust, the original travel magazine, this bite-sized guide is jam-packed with trivia, facts and quotes to help cure even the most serious cases of itchy feet. Find out which country has a museum dedicated exclusively to Pot Noodles, which country has more islands than any other nation and which holiday destination you're likely to prefer based on whether you're an extrovert or an introvert. With inspiring quotes from seasoned travellers, The Little Book of Wanderlust is the perfect gift for jetsetters and journeyers.Table of ContentsDepartures • Take Off • Culture Shock • Bucket List • Trailblazers • Homeward Bound.

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Book SynopsisIn June of 1922, Marguerite Harrison, and American journalist and spy embarked from North America on what was to be an epic journey to Japan, Korea, China, Mongolia and Siberia. It was in Siberia that she was arrested by the Bolsheviks, sent 4,000 kilometres to Moscow and imprisoned there, first in the notorious Lubyanka and later in Butrykra Prison. She was threatened with a charge of espionage which could carry the death sentence or at a minimum, ten years' exile in Siberia. Ultimately, the US Government interceded and she was released. Red Bear or Yellow Dragon is one of the finest sources on Japanese society and culture in the 1920s and also offers a rare glimpse into life in the Asian steppes. Harrison undertook a highly dangerous 1,400 km trip from Beijing to Mongolia's capital, Ulan Bator, through the Great Khingan Mountains and over the Gobi Desert to Chita in Siberia. She wrote: 'Most of the roads I followed were bloodstained road - some grim reminders of the World War and Revolution, others with fresh traces of blood shed since the peace.' Marguerite undertook this arduous journey to chronicle the peoples and politics of what she sensed as a stirring of new movements in Asia - the eternal sphinx - that were to severely challenge the West in the coming decades and which continue to do up to the present age.

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Book SynopsisGeorge Orwell set out ‘to make political writing into an art’, and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell’s essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. A Hanging, the ninth in the Orwell’s Essays series, tells the story of the execution of an unnamed convict in Burma. With the veracity of the story unknown, but thought to be loosely based on Orwell’s own experiences in Burma, the haunting tale leaves the reader contemplating the heavy topic of colonialism, and the right of one to take the life of another.Trade Review'One of Orwell’s earliest essays, but already a demonstration of his superb and subtle craftsmanship.' (Los Angeles Times)

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Book SynopsisThe foremost account of Ireland's cultural and spiritual heritageIn 1907 J. M. Synge achieved both notoriety and lasting fame with The Playboy of the Western World. The Aran Islands, published in the same year, records his visits to the islands in 1898-1901, when he was gathering the folklore and anecdotes out of which he forged The Playboy and his other major dramas. Yet this book is much more than a stage in the evolution of Synge the dramatist. As Tim Robinson explains in his introduction, If Ireland is intriguing as being an island off the west of Europe, then Aran, as an island off the west of Ireland, is still more so; it is Ireland raised to the power of two. Towards the end of the last century Irish nationalists came to identify the area as the country's uncorrupted heart, the repository of its ancient language, culture and spiritual values. It was for these reasons that Yeats suggested Synge visit the islands to record their way of life. The resuTable of ContentsThe Aran IslandsPlace/Person/Book: Synge's The Aran IslandsAcknowledgmentsA Note on the TextThe Aran IslandsIntroductionPart IPart IIPart IIIPart IVNotes

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Book SynopsisLose yourself in this classic travelogue evoking the idyllic South of France by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu. ''Full of stories, landscapes, comedy, history, heresies, animals, food, drink, and songs of the Midi.' Patrick Leigh Fermor ''A richly characteristic bouillabaisse by our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean, our old Prospero of the south.'' Richard Holmes Provence, Southern France. Celebrated writer and poet Lawrence Durrell made the Midi his home for more than thirty years: and in his final book, he shares his most evocative, dazzling memories of life as a local. A seductive blend of travelogue, poet''s notebook, and intimate autobiography, Durrell guides us through the rich layers of human history that lie beneath the region''s legendary landscapes. From stories of magic and mythology infusing the rolling vineyards and vivid lavender fieldsTrade Review'Full of stories, landscapes, comedy, history, heresies, animals, food, drink, and songs of the Midi.' - Patrick Leigh Fermor

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Book SynopsisA Waterstones Travel Book of the Year 2023 A funny, warm and timely meditation on identity and belonging, following the scenic route along the England–Wales border: Britain’s deepest faultline. Trade Review‘I loved this book. Mike Parker weaves together a great deal of wide reading, hard thinking and soulful tramping in his funny, thoughtful and evocative investigation of the Welsh–English border.’ Jesse Armstrong, creator of Succession and Peep Show ‘Delightful and perceptive … Poses searching questions about identity, culture and political power.’ Waterstones Books of the Year ‘A joyful canter through the Marches. Delightfully engaging. Blending history, literature and personal anecdote, Mike Parker writes with energy and wit.’ TLS ‘No-one maps the secrets of the UK quite like Mike Parker.’ Ayesha Hazarika ‘A brilliant, fascinating book; Parker is funny and lyrical whilst always choosing brutal truth over sentimentality.’ Miles Jupp 'Classic Parker – a delicious, learned tour through a fascinating place.' Tom Bullough, author of Sarn Helen ‘Genuinely great.’ Adrian Chiles 'I gobbled this up.' Jude Rogers ‘A beautifully written journey through the history and landscape of the border country and a clear-eyed analysis of its physical and psychological dividing line – the best kind of travelogue.’ Richard King, author of Brittle with Relics: A History of Wales, 1962–97 ‘This enthralling journey beautifully celebrates our ancient frontier land and is a present-day reminder of its’ enduring duty.’ Tudur Owen, BAFTA winning comedian and presenter ‘I was often overcome by “fierce wonder”. Fine writing indeed.’ John Sam Jones, author of The Journey is Home ‘Engaging, entertaining and very readable.’ Nation.Cymru ‘A likeable, highly literate companion.’ New Welsh Review ‘A kind of mini-biography of the British psyche emerges from Parker's work, its learning lightly worn and its tales well told, full of interest and incident’ Horatio Clare

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Book SynopsisThis first-hand account of a 1948 journey to a treacherous valley in northern India in search of a mysterious creature is both a classic travel adventure and a graphic record of an amazing expedition. The book chronicles the group''s movement into a remote valley in Assam, where the inhabitants had only recently given up headhunting, on a quest for the Buru, an elusive, monstrous reptile well documented by those native to the area. The Buru, like the Yeti, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness monster, has captured the imagination of adventurers around the world, and remains a popular subject of cryptozoology -- the study of animals yet to be discovered by science. Recalled in vivid detail are treks through hazardous swamplands filled with cobras and leeches, and campaigns through perilous jungle where thumbnail-sized ticks and wild boar are indigenous, all in the hunt for the legendary saurian.

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