Classic travel writing Books

Book SynopsisSailing six thousand miles in eighty days, Allcard makes the classic southern route trade-wind crossing westward, and not without incident—severe gales, thief-catching in Spain, avoiding a seductive blonde in Gibraltar, encountering sharks and shoals of flying fish, and narrowly escaping falling overboard to his death when knocked out by gear falling from aloft. Allcard’s plan to dodge the worst of the hurricane season on his return voyage is not accommodated by the elements. Through gales and headwinds, and one terrible storm, he takes seventy-four days to reach the Azores from New York, arriving minus his mizzen mast, desperately exhausted, injured, and hungry. The next leg, to Casablanca, is enlivened by a female stowaway, before he makes a safe return to England. Whether describing the pleasures or the trials, the phosphorescent nights or the storms, the operation of his ship or his own introspections, Edward Allcard eloquently conveys his deep appreciation of the sea, and the escape from modern civilisation it offers him.

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Book SynopsisVividly captures the experiences of prominent Indian intellectual and scholar Shibli¯ Nu‘ma¯ni¯ (1857-1914) as he journeyed across the Ottoman Empire and Egypt in 1892. A professor of Arabic and Persian, Nu‘ma¯ni¯ took a six-month leave from teaching to travel to the Ottoman Empire in search of rare printed works and manuscripts.Trade ReviewA work of surprising complexity. The detailed notes, the appendices, the multilingual and multinational research that the translator has done. . . . The results have made the translation far more usefully accessible than the plain text could ever have been, as a primary source for scholars of Middle Eastern intellectual and cultural history of the period. Nu‘mani was one of India’s most creative and enterprising intellectuals at the turn of the 20th century. His travelogue to the Ottoman lands, a classic of Urdu literature, is a riveting account of his experiences as he met a wide range of individuals, visited schools and libraries, and collected scholarly materials with enthusiasm. Bruce’s lucid translation, supported by excellent notes and appendices, is without question a work that will at once inform and entertain. Bruce achieved a masterful translation of an influential late 19th century Urdu text of Shibli Noumani, his travel account of Turkey, Egypt and Syria in 1892. Readings an Indian Muslims proud observations of progress and reform in the ethnically mixed cities ruled by Ottoman Caliph Abdulhamid II will be essential to understand the late 19th century Pan-Islamism during an era of empire, race and geopolitics.

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Book SynopsisIn 1951 the Australian writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston left grey, post-war London for Greece. Settling first on the tiny island of Kalymnos, then Hydra, their plan was to live simply and focus on their writing, away from the noise of the big city. The result is two of Charmian Clift's best known and most loved books, the memoirs Mermaid Singing and Peel Me a Lotus. Mermaid Singing relays the culture shock and the sheer delight of their first year on the tiny sponge-fishing island of Kalymnos. Clift paints an evocative picture of the characters and sun-drenched rhythms of traditional life, long before backpackers and mass tourism descended. On Hydra, featured in the companion volume, Peel Me a Lotus, Clift and Johnston became the centre of an informal community of artists and writers including the then unknown Leonard Cohen who lodged with them, and his future girlfriend Marianne Ihlen.Trade Review'These are blissful reissues that will bring Grecian heat and light to your life, and much more besides' Editor's Travel Choice. The Bookseller. 'A really beautiful writer who just puts you right there' Polly Samson. 'Her bold beautiful writing endures' Daily Mail.'What a delight that she should have been discovered again' The Times. 'They were an inspiration' Leonard Cohen on Charmian Clift and George Johnston. 'Clift's immersive 1950's memoirs capture the magic, and the menace of Greek island life' Daily Telegraph

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Book SynopsisFanny Parkes, who lived in India between 1822 and 1846, was the ideal travel writer - courageous, indefatigably curious and determinedly independent. Her delightful journal traces her journey from prim memsahib, married to a minor civil servant of the Raj, to eccentric, sitar-playing Indophile, fluent in Urdu, critical of British rule and passionate in her appreciation of Indian culture. Fanny is fascinated by everything, from the trial of the thugs and the efficacy of opium on headaches to the adorning of a Hindu bride. To read her is to get as close as one can to a true picture of early colonial India - the sacred and the profane, the violent and the beautiful, the straight-laced sahibs and the more eccentric White Mughals who fell in love with India and did their best, like Fanny, to build bridges across cultures.Trade Review"one of the best accounts of this period" Indira Ghose, Memsahibs Abroad

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Book SynopsisThe novelist E. M. Forster opens the door on life in a remote Maharajah's court in the early twentieth century, a 'record of a vanished civilization.' Through letters from his time visiting and working there, he introduces us to a 14th century political system in 'the oddest corner of the world outside Alice in Wonderland' where the young Maharajah of Devas, 'certainly a genius and possibly a saint,' led a state centered on spiritual aspirations. The Hill of Devi chronicles Forster's infatuation and exasperation, fascination, and amusement at this idiosyncratic court, leading us with him to its heart and the eight-day festival of Gokul Ashtami, marking the birth of Krishna, where we see His Highness Maharajah Sir Tukoji Rao III dancing before the altar 'like David before the Ark.'‘A classic account of a vanished side of India that has never before been so graphically painted.’ – Raymond Mortimer, Sunday Times‘I spent a lot of time laughing, it’s so weird, and so very British and very Indian at the same time, and so much of what he writes feels very contemporary. For all these reasons, I really love this book.’ – Damon Galgut

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Book SynopsisIt began with an advertisement in the agony column of The Times: Leaving England June, to explore rivers Central Brazil, if possible ascertain fate Colonel Fawcett; abundance game, big and small; exceptional fishing; room two more guns. Colonel Fawcett and his son Jack had embarked on a journey in 1925 in search of a supposed lost city and were never seen again. This expedition was too much of a temptation for Peter Fleming, a young journalist with energy and an appetite for adventure. The journey, which begins in a reckless spirit of can-do frivolity, slowly darkens into something very personal and deeply testing for which Rider Haggard might have written the plot and Conrad designed the scenery. Fleming recounts it in brilliant prose, leavening the danger with humour and honesty.Trade ReviewThis is an extraordinarily good book ... he is romantic; he has humour; and he faces facts. - Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisThis is a lavish pictorial record produced in collaboration with the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). It features 200 unique photographs taken by Isabella Bird that transport the reader to the China of the late 19th century. It includes supporting text by travel photography expert Debbie Ireland. Ammonite Press is proud to collaborate with the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) in celebrating the achievements of Isabella Bird in this lavish pictorial record of her last great journey through China, in the closing years of the 19th century, with supporting text by travel photography expert Debbie Ireland. Bird was in her mid-sixties when she undertook her travels, to a land that was largely unknown and largely misunderstood in the West, where a woman travelling alone was greeted with incredulity and, occasionally, hostility. The highlight of her visit was journeying by boat and sedan chair to make a major tour of the valley of the Yangtze River and much beyond, right up to the border with Tibet.

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Book SynopsisIn June 1862, Dostoevsky left Petersburg on his first excursion to Western Europe. Ostensibly making the trip to consult Western specialists about his epilepsy, he also wished to see firsthand the source of the Western ideas he believed were corrupting Russia. Over the course of his journey he visited a number of major cities, including Berlin, Paris, London, Florence, Milan, and Vienna. His impressions on what he saw, "Winter Notes on Summer Impressions", were first published in the February 1863 issue of Vremya (Time), the periodical he edited.Trade ReviewImportant as an early statement of some of Dostoevsky's favourite concepts, and interesting as an example of his acid journalistic style. * The New York Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisWhat is Bangkok like? asked an American visitor, rhetorically in 1903. Some answer the question by relying on cliches''Venice of the east'' or ''city of places in temples''. Others insisted that its contrasts and contradictions made an easy description impossible.Bangkok at the turn of the 20th century was a city in transition, mixing as it did east with west and traditions with modernity. Here live the diverse communities which made it what it is today but this collection of writings by a huge variety of visitors to Bangkok captures the city through foreign eyes.In Bangkok is a collection of texts which reflect the foreign experience of the city the foreigners in question being both long-term residence and short-term visitors. It draws on a wide range of sources including travel books, memoirs, novels, short stories, verses, inscriptions, newspaper reports, directories and advertisements. It is richly illustrated with contemporary artwork and photographs.

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Book SynopsisFirst published in 1985, this is a scholarly analysis of the Grand Tour, undertaken by young men in the eighteenth century to complete their education - a tour usually to France, Italy and Switzerland, and sometimes encompassing Germany.Table of Contents1. Numbers, Routes and Destinations 2. Transport 3. Accomodation, Food and Drink 4. War, Disputes, Accidents and Crime 5. Love, Sex, Gambling and Drinking 6. Health and Death 7. Cost and Finance 8. Social and Political Reflections 9. Religion 10. The Arts 11. The Debate over the Grand Tour: Conclusions

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Book SynopsisD.H. Lawrence's first travel book and an important insight into the roots of his literary genius. In 1912, a young D.H. Lawrence left England for the first time and travelled to northern Italy. He spent nearly a year on the shores of Lake Garda, lodged in elegantly decaying houses set amid lemon groves and surrounded by the fading life of traditional Italy. This is a travel book unlike any other, where landscapes and people are backdrops to Lawrence's deeper wanderings - into philosophy, opinion, life, nature, religion and the fate of man. With sensuous descriptions of late harvests, darkening days and fragile ancient traditions, Twilight in Italy is suffused with nostalgia and premonition. For, looming over the idyll of rural Italy hover dark spectres: the arrival of the industrial age and the brewing storm of World War I, upheavals that would change the face of Europe forever.Trade ReviewIf this is travel writing, it is travel writing in excelsis - beyond the spectacle, beyond the experience, beyond even the interpretation, into profound conclusions of the spirit, -- Jan MorrisIt cannot be read as an ordinary travel book, for his voyage is philosophic, as well as a symbolic and sensuous one. -- Anais NinThe sharpness of Lawrence's eye is incredible...brilliantly informative, educative, entertaining and moving. -- Anthony BurgessTable of ContentsIntroduction The Crucifix across the Mountains Part I On the Lago Di Garda 1.The Spinner and the Monks 2. The Lemon Gardens 3. The Theatre 4. San Gaudenzio 5. The Dance 6. Il Duro 7. John Part II Italians in Exile 8. Italians in Exile Part III The Return Journey 9. The Return Journey

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Book SynopsisSmelling the Breezes is an inspiring adventure, that throws down a gauntlet about what can be achieved in a family holiday. Rather than give a leaving party, Ralph and Molly Izzard had their own plans about how to say goodbye to their home in the Middle East. They would walk the three-hundred mile spine of the Lebanese mountains, camping where ever they stopped with their four children, two donkeys and Elias (their gardener-nursemaid-friend) as their sole travelling companions.Trade ReviewThis is the way to travel four children and two donkeys and this is the way to write a travel book. Birmingham Evening Post

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Book SynopsisINTRODUCED BY FIONA MOZLEY, Booker-shortlisted author of ElmetWITH EXCERPTS FROM ALL THE ROADS ARE OPEN BY ANNEMARIE SCHWARZENBACH'We were both travellers - she always running away from an emotional crisis (not seeing that she was already wishing for the next), I always seeking far afield the secret of harmonious living, or filling up time by courting risk, caught by the clean sharp "taste" it gives to life.'In 1939, adventurer and writer Ella Maillart set off on an epic drive from Geneva to Kabul, accompanied by journalist and photographer Annemarie Schwarzenbach, who later became an antifascist and lesbian icon. The two women travelled partly to escape the coming war in Europe, embarking on a daring, and often dangerous, journey through regions where European women were a rarity. But Schwarzenbach was also fighting a losing battle with morphine addiction, and the women's close but often troubled relationship takes centre stage in the narrative as the journey progresses through Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan. Encountering breathtaking landscapes, ancient ruins and nomadic peoples, The Cruel Way is a gripping, lyrical and deeply empathetic portrait of places, people and friendship. Brought together for the first time with excerpts from All the Roads are Open, Annemarie Schwarzenbach's parallel account of the journey.

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Book SynopsisElizabeth Bowen was born in Dublin in 1899, the only child of an Irish lawyer and land-owner. She travelled a great deal, dividing most of her time between London and Bowen's Court, the family house in County Cork which she inherited. Her first book, a collection of shorts stories, Encounters, was published in 1923. The Hotel (1926) was her first novel. She was awarded the CBE in 1948, and received honorary degrees from Trinity College, Dublin in 1949, and from Oxford University in 1956. The Royal Society of Literature made her a Companion of Literature in 1965. Elizabeth Bowen died in 1973.Trade ReviewA still ludicrously underrated genius of 20th-century British-Irish writing -- Simon SchamaOne of the last century's greatest woman writers * Guardian *Her writings convey the flavour of literary London in the Thirties and Forties * Observer *A matchless writer * Independent *

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Book SynopsisWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY PAUL THEROUXSomerset Maugham's success as a writer enabled him to indulge his adventurous love of travel, and he recorded the sights and sounds of his wide-ranging journeys with an urbane, wry style all his own.Trade ReviewThere enough raw material to sate his imagination and the journey itself takes on the contours of a story worth recording. Among the coolly-observed descriptions of ruined pagodas there's the added treat of Maugham's catty thoughts on his craft * Sunday Herald (Glasgow) *Maugham's finest travel book...As the urbane novelist wends his way through tropic climes, he reads Proust under the mosquito netting, listens to stories of passion and madness from British colonials gone to seed, and bears up under the merciless sun, sipping at a gin and bitters and laying out a hand of solitaire * Washington Post *An elegant writer's notebook, imaginative, crammed with impressions and ideas received simply and directly, without the filtering screens of literariness or Englishness... he writes with majestic plainness * The Times *A delightful book - It contains vivid travel impressions, some autobiographical confidences, and the plots for a dozen novels * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisExplorer, novelist, writer and film-maker, Sir Laurens van der Post was one of the most influential figures of our era. Here, in conversation with Jean-Marc Pottiez, he records his ideas and insights into a wide range of issues and personalities, forged by a lifetime of vast experiences and challenges.Trade ReviewI rank Laurens van der Post with the best writers of English - this book confirms my constant admiration and the nobility of his mind -- Raymond Mortimer * Sunday Times *Bushmen, Africa, the relation of man to animals (beautiful stories about elephants), Japan and Japanese prisoner-of-war camps, the forgiveness of enemies, June, spiritual growth, Churchill, Smuts, Mountbatten... Such a rapid catalogue must omit much of what he talks about, but may give some impression of the book's riches * The Times *A deeply thoughtful, engrossing book about his fascinatingly varied life and unusual ideas... Refreshingly unconventional, inspiring, optimistic, wise and true * Sunday Express *Overflows with ideas and insights gained during a long and eventful life * Independent *No one can write more feelingly of Africa... An experience not to be missed * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisCombining the acute observation of a nineteenth-century missionary, and the wit of a Monty Python player, Redmond O''Hanlon is famous for his adventurous travel. His new challenge is the Congo, the most dangerous and inhospitable jungle in the world.

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Book SynopsisAstolphe Louis Leonor, Marquis de Custine, was born in 1790. Both his grandfather and father were executed during the Terror. Raised by his remarkable mother, Custine became a diplomat and attended the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Custine's homosexuality became the subject of a public scandal in 1824 and ended his career. He devoted the rest of his life to travel and literature. In 1839 he made the journey that resulted in his masterpiece, Letters from Russia. Custine died in 1857.

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Book SynopsisOstensibly written by an English knight, the Travels purport to relate his experiences in the Holy Land, Egypt, India and China. Mandeville claims to have served in the Great Khan's army, and to have travelled in 'the lands beyond' - countries populated by dog-headed men, cannibals, Amazons and Pygmies. Although Marco Polo's slightly earlier narrative ultimately proved more factually accurate, Mandeville's was widely known, used by Columbus, Leonardo da Vinci and Martin Frobisher, and inspiring writers as diverse as Swift, Defoe and Coleridge. This intriguing blend of fact, exaggeration and absurdity offers both fascinating insight into and subtle criticism of fourteenth-century conceptions of the world.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 tr

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Book Synopsis''How is the mind agitated and bewildered, at being thus, as it were, placed on the borders of a new world!'' - William Bartram''Thus you see, dear sister, the manners of mankind do not differ so widely as our voyage writers would have us believe.'' - Mary Wortley MontaguWith widely varied motives - scientific curiosity, commerce, colonization, diplomacy, exploration, and tourism - British travellers fanned out to every corner of the world in the period the Critical Review labelled the ''Age of Peregrination''. The Empire, already established in the Caribbean and North America, was expanding in India and Africa and founding new outposts in the Pacific in the wake of Captain Cook''s voyages. In letters, journals, and books, travellers wrote at first-hand of exotic lands and beautiful scenery, and encounters with strange peoples and dangerous wildlife. They conducted philosophical and political debates in print about slavery and the French Revolution, and their writing often affords unexpected insights into the writers themselves. This anthology brings together the best writing from authors such as Daniel Defoe, Celia Fiennes, Mary Wollstonecraft, Olaudah Equiano, Mungo Park, and many others, to provide a comprehensive selection from this emerging literary genre. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Table of ContentsEUROPE AND ASIA MINOR; THE BRITISH ISLES; AFRICA; THE CARIBBEAN; NORTH AMERICA; AUSTRALIA AND THE PACIFIC

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Book SynopsisThe first new translation in over 400 years of one of the great works of the Renaissance: an African diplomat''s guide to Africa.In 1518, al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan, a Moroccan diplomat, was seized by pirates while travelling in the Mediterranean. Brought before Pope Leo X, he was persuaded to convert to Christianity, in the process taking the name Johannes Leo Africanus. Acclaimed in the papal court for his learning, Leo would in time write his masterpiece, The Cosmography and the Geography of Africa.The Cosmography was the first book about Africa, and the first book written by a modern African, to reach print. It would remain central to the European understanding of Africa for over 300 years, with its descriptions of lands, cities and peoples giving a singular vision of the vast continent: its urban bustle and rural desolation, its culture, commerce and warfare, its magical herbs and strange animals.Yet it is not a mere catalogue of the exotic: Leo also invited his readers to acknowledge the similarity and relevance of these lands to the time and place they knew. For this reason, The Cosmography and Geography of Africa remains significant to our understanding not only of Africa, but of the world and how we perceive it.

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Book SynopsisIn mid-career, Michael Frayn took up his old trade of journalism, and wrote a series of occasional articles for the Observer about some of the places in the world that interested him. He wanted to describe ''not the extraordinary but the ordinary, the typical, the everyday'', and his accounts became the starting point for some of the novels and plays he wrote later. From a kibbutz in Israel to summer rains in Japan, bicycles in Cambridge to Notting Hill at the end of the 1950s, they are glimpses of a world that sometimes seems tantalisingly familiar, sometimes vanished forever. Michael Frayn is the celebrated author of fifteen plays including Noises Off, Copenhagen and Afterlife. His bestselling novels include Headlong, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Spies, which won the Whitbread Best Novel Award and Skios, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. All writers of fiction should be

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA treasure of rare distinction among travel books. * The New York Times Book Review *Here, for once in a very long while, is a book upon which the miser of superlatives may pour out his hoard of praise . . . To read such a book . . . is to be proud and thankful. For here is a lovely clarity and calm courage, vivid gaiety, the strong peace of truth and understanding; and quietness. * The Times Literary Supplement *Her writing has wit and vivacity and no little beauty . . . I found the whole book enthralling. * Christian Science Monitor *It 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 * The New York Times *Her books make Stark a remarkable figure under any circumstances. Having been a woman whose roamings through Middle Eastern deserts and mountains put her in the top ranks of the fabled Royal Geographical Society makes her more so. -- Richard Bernstein * The 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 of 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 travel writers of our century. * The New Yorker *A Middle East traveler, 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 by Sir Kinahan Cornwallis, K.C.M.G., C.B.E., D.S.O. 1. From the Air 2. Mukalla Revisited 3. Transport and the Cook 4. The Towns of the Kathiri The Diary The Journey 5. The Journey Begins 6. Wadi ’Amd 7. Sickness in ’Amd 8. Robin 9. The High Jol 10. The Drawings of Rahbe 11. Across the Watershed 12. Arrivalin ’Azzan 13. Naqb al Hajr 14. Jebel Kadur 15. The Sultan’s Caravan 16. The Site of Cana 17. A Dhow to Aden Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Index

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Book SynopsisFrom the inception of American tourism in the late 18th century, this volume explores over 200 years of American fascination with the French Riviera. Beginning with Thomas Jefferson who visited the south of France in 1787, it follows America's journey from a tourist minority to one of the formative forces of this resort region.

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Book SynopsisThe Duke of Pirajno arrived in North Africa in 1924. For the next eighteen years his experiences as a doctor in Libya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somaliland, provided him with opportunities and experiences rarely given to a European. He brings us stories of noble chieftains and celebrated courtesans, of Berber princes and Tuareg entertainers, of giant elephants, and a lioness who fell in love with the author.

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Book SynopsisWITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY TARAN KHAN, author of Shadow CityTRANSLATED FROM BENGALI BY NAZES AFROZAn intrepid traveller and true cosmopolitan, legendary Bengali writer Syed Mujtaba Ali spent a year and a half teaching in Kabul from 1927 to 1929. Curious to explore Afghan society, Mujtaba Ali had access to a cross-section of Kabul''s population, and in In a Land Far from Home he chronicles his experiences with a keen eye and a wicked sense of humour.Mujtaba Ali''s travels coincided with a critical point in Afghanistan''s history: when the reformist King Amanullah tried to steer his country towards modernity by encouraging education for girls and giving them the choice of removing the burqa. Branded a ''kafir'', Amanullah was overthrown by the bandit leader Bacha-e-Saqao. With striking parallels to twenty-first century events in the region, In a Land Far From Home is the only first-hand account of this tumultuous period by a non-A

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Book SynopsisThe second volume of exuberant, lively letters from legendary travel writer Patrick Leigh FermorThe first collection of letters from Patrick Leigh Fermor, Dashing for the Post, delighted critics and public alike. This second volume, More Dashing, presents a further selection of letters that exude a zest for life and adventure characteristic of the man known to all as Paddy'. Paddy's exuberant letters contain glimpses of the great and the good: a chance conversation with the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, when Paddy opens the wrong door, or a glass of ouzo under the pine trees with Harold Macmillan. They describe encounters with such varied figures as Jackie Onassis, Camilla Parker-Bowles, Oswald Mosley and Peter Mandelson, while also relating adventures with the humble: a pick-nick' with the stonemasons at Kardamyli, or a drunken celebration in the Cretan mountains with his old comrades from the Resistance, most of them simple shepherds and goatherds. Paddy was at ease in any company unfailingly charming, boyish, gentle and fun. Patrick Leigh Fermor has long been recognised as one of the greatest travel writers of his time. Nowhere is his restless curiosity and delight in language more dazzlingly displayed than in his letters, skilfully edited in this collection by Adam Sisman.Trade ReviewPaddy Leigh Fermor was a soaring prose virtuoso with hardly an equal in his generation ... The letters are flirty, funny, lively and revealing. A few bring to mind his extravagant, generous, witty, meandering style of conversation; others show his magpie mind; the best contain some of the finest descriptive writing he ever committed to paper. Adam Sisman should be congratulated on this feat of literary archaeology and for excavating for Paddy’s fans a last marvellous treasure trove of Leigh Fermor prose -- William DalrympleRemarkably, this second volume, again expertly edited by Adam Sisman, contains, if anything, a more varied and colourful selection than the first … No fan will be disappointed -- Hamish Robinson * Oldie *Wow - one tour de force after another! The best letters are as good as - if not better than - any in the language: Byron's, Walpole's, Henry James's, Freya Stark's. Often I laughed aloud, tears coursing down the cheeks -- Praise for 'Dashing for the Post', John Julius NorwichAdam Sisman is a model editor ... Reading these letters is like gobbling down a tray of exotically filled chocolates, with no horrible orange creams to put you off -- Praise for 'Dashing for the Post', Harry Mount * Literary Review *Zest, verbal finesse, almost pristine receptivity and a richly informed cultural and historical consciousness make these letters, even when the erosions of time and illness shadow them, irresistibly exhilarating -- Praise for 'Dashing for the Post' * Sunday Times *

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Book Synopsis'Nothing less than a guided tour of the human soul ... A masterpiece' Elizabeth Gilbert 'A work of spiritual evolution [and] inner journeys told through extraordinary exteriors' Washington Post One of our most perceptive travel writers embarks on an exploration of the world's holiest places and where we might find paradise on Earth. It’s so easy, I thought, to place Paradise in the past or the future – anywhere but here. After half a century of travel, Pico Iyer asks himself what kind of paradise can ever be found in a world of unceasing conflict. In a spectacular journey, both inward and outward, he roams the globe from Jerusalem to Belfast to North Korea, from crowded mosques in Iran to a holy mountain in Japan. By the end, he has upended any of our expectations and dared to suggest that we can find paradise right in the heart of our angry and confused world.Trade ReviewA luminous and absorbing book, and one that is good to think with -- Caroline Eden * Financial Times *Nothing less than a guided tour of the human soul. Filled with hope, wisdom, and extraordinary tenderness, this is a book not only for the ages, but for our very specific, very troubled age. A masterpiece. -- Elizabeth GilbertIn elegant and ecstatic prose, Pico Iyer uncovers our wonderful capacity for hope, wearing his erudition so lightly. I was revitalised by this book -- Katherine MayIyer shares Graham Greene’s gift for the enthralling sentence, and can be a charming and perceptive companion . . . He reminds us that the key to good travel writing lies in the discrepancy between what you expect of a country and what you get. And at an even more primal level, he makes you want to go to the countries themselves -- Hugh Thomson * Spectator *To step into The Half Known Life feels both a privilege and a necessity . . . Iyer is more than a guide or a compatriot in an unfamiliar land: in the inward journey to lucidity he is a companion of our own searching minds -- Yiyun LiI defy anyone to read this profound travelogue and not immediately start reading it again. If there is a "paradise of words", this is it -- John KeayA wise, immaculately written achievement that could only be contemplated after a lifetime of travel and reading and pondering. Reading The Half Known Life is to yield to the most invigorating and thought-provoking meditation. -- Nicholas ShakespeareThoughtful . . . Iyer comes across as that finest of all personality types, the pragmatic idealist ... There’s a lovely patience in evidence here; he is calm, reasonable and curious -- Darragh McManus * Irish Independent *Iyer has done the impossible with this book . . . This is a singular offering of magnetic story, deep thinking, truth telling and spiritual refreshment for our tumultuous young century -- Krista TippettI really really enjoyed the book -- Frank Cottrell BoyceEven as Iyer takes you around the world, he remains a most faithful companion to the spirit of that ultimate journey into uncharted territories—our inner selves . . . The Half Known Life is a vigorous quest for the paradise within * Los Angeles Review of Books *Iyer's chronicle, which begins with an appreciation of the sophistication, beauty and culture of Iran, becomes a requiem for a world — and an existence — estranged from itself . . . His book has the ring of a classic Buddhist meditation strategy * New York Times *Thought-provoking . . . Iyer has an acutely observant eye for the telling detail and a delicious turn of phrase -- Richard Hopton * Country and Town House Magazine *Reading Mr Iyer’s book in the depth of winter, in a troubled world, it’s heartening to think that paradise—or at least a glimpse of it—might be available from where we sit * Wall Street Journal *A masterful merging of Iyer’s past and current concerns, a book of inner journeys told through extraordinary exteriors * Washington Post *Iyer’s prose is elegant and never hurried as it roams like a travelling mind . . . He comes to his destinations with years of learned erudition and yet seemingly without expectations . . . It may be Iyer’s unique positioning that makes The Half Known Life so much of this moment, in a world reeling from a devastating pandemic as well as lasting divisons * Japan Times *Humming with wisdom and a profound appreciation of nature’s inherent contradictions, Pico Iyer’s meditation on paradise—where it is, what it means, if it can be found on Earth—is much more than a diary of his country-spanning travels. It’s a work of philosophy, probing the scientific and the spiritual to understand why the most beautiful places often become such sources of pain, and how paradise might be re-discovered * Elle US *Iyer’s smooth, intelligent yet elegant prose style makes this an enjoyable and often thought-provoking read * New York Journal of Books *Everywhere Pico Iyer travels his keen vision allows him to see both ravishing beauty and profound flaws * Shelf Awareness *From one of the most perceptive writers of our times, this one brings forth a lifetime of explorations to upend our ideas of utopia and ask how we might find peace in the midst of difficulty and suffering. Could there be anything better to pick at the start of the year? * Harper’s Bazaar India *Iyer flexes his remarkable skill of reading between the lines of passing conversations to extract profound meaning and draw connections between disparate places across the world . . . He does provide hours of thought-provoking meditations on what it means to speak of paradise * New York Times *Mesmering . . . riveting . . . revelatory . . . Iyer poetically depicts the otherworldly beauty of these places while trenchantly examining the paradox of utopia -- Thuy Dinh * NPR *Iyer is the loveliest of writers, a person whose prose is in harmony with the man himself: sharp-minded, witty, benevolent, wise, and never for a second ponderous or spiritually meretricious. To read Iyer, initially, is to entertain ourselves, and then, well, the rest is up to you -- Jim Kelly * Air Mail *Iyer travels the globe—from Iran to Kashmir to Japan to Northern Ireland—to demystify how different communities perceive eternal happiness, and how their quest to achieve it manifests in the face of political, social, and environmental instability. The result is a lyrical, if paradoxical, meditation on a fervent pursuit for happiness that often feels out of reach * TIME, The 100 Must-Read Books of 2023 *

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Book SynopsisI have travelled more than three hundred miles since finishing my bowl of porridge. I sit at my window, attentive to the journey.' In his sixth book, singlehanded sailor Roger Taylor stays ashore and turns his gaze towards the rugged Scottish landscape and rich wildlife visible through his loch-side window. Written as a kind of cosmic travelogue, the book reconciles the bleakness and beauty of the human condition.Praise for Taylor's previous books:One of the best sailing writers on the planet.' - Yachting MonthlyThe best-balanced writer you will ever read.' - Yachting WorldThe best-written accounts of seagoing under sail I have read in many a year' - Sailing TodayA marvellous book of the sea' - Sea Breezes

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Book SynopsisIn 1862, Lucie Duff Gordon left her husband and three children in England and settled in Egypt, where she remained for the rest of her short life. Seeking respite from her tuberculosis in the dry air, she moved into a ramshackle house above a temple in Luxor, and soon became an indispensable member of the community. Setting up a hospital in her home, she welcomed all - from slaves to local leaders. Her humane, open-minded voice shines across the centuries through these letters - witty, life-affirming, joyous, self-deprecating and utterly enchanted by her Arab neighbours.

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Book SynopsisUnique eyewitness account from 1917 of Morocco as a French protectorate.

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Book SynopsisFirst published in 1997, it would be hard to find a publisher today for a white, male expatriate writing about the realities of life in a Jamaican hamlet.To make matters worse, Guy Kennaway wrote One People in the local patois. But this comic novel – sparkling with irreverent wit– is cherished in Jamaica where it is recognised for its 'humour and humanity' and as a mirror which reflects the essence of the island, where 'culture is something that comes from the ground up and good times do not require a whole heap o' money.' Guy Kennaway's novel about Jamaican life and culture is set in the fictional village of Angel Beach. It is an affectionate and hilarious description of a small community where everyone knows everyone's business, poverty is a way of life, and dreams of escape trickle through fingers. ‘If you’ve ever seen the universe in an ear of corn, you should read One People, and if you haven’t, don’t worry, you will.’ – Damian Hirst‘Lyrical, poignant and downright funny...’ – The Herald and Tribune, Jamaica

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Book SynopsisIn 1973, the Afghans still had a King who ruled from a palace in Kabul with his own resident court of musicians when Veronica set up home in Herat. This Afghan city sat close to the Persian frontier and was fully cognisant of its glorious history as the capital of a once vast Central Asian Empire. Veronica was not a casual traveler but a young musician married to a scholar. She was determined to make use of her time in Afghanistan and break out of the charmed circle of the expatriate academic and make real friendships with local women. The tentative story, the growth in these very different friendships, takes the reader into a rare, deep, and privileged insight into the hidden world of Afghan female society. This is more than enough to make this book remarkable, but it has an afterlife of its own. For a Communist coup, then the Russian invasion, a long guerrilla war of Resistance is followed by Civil War and the rise of the Taliban. Veronica was separated from her friends: feared the worst, sought to assist but was also aware that contact from a westerner could be lethal to them. Then a fragile peace allowed her to meet them again and pick up their stories. It is a most exceptional work, which reads like a novel. ‘I was fascinated by this story of ordinary life before the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. The three women are remarkable and unforgettable, and the story of how the author gained their friendship is like a novel.’ – Doris Lessing‘Three Women of Herat is a sensitive, knowledgeable and very moving account of an annihilated civilisation.’ –The Sunday Times‘Her understanding of 'purdah' is certainly the most illuminating by any Western writer for a long time. It is in describing the rituals of the day-to-day life of these women that the author excels, all are minutely depicted with a ravishing eye for detail.’ – Ahmed Rashid

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Book SynopsisBengal Lancer is a complete one off. On one hand this book is a love affair with the spiritual traditions of India while on the other it is the memoir of a carefree young cavalry officer in the halcyon days of the British Empire. Francis Yeats-Brown proves himself exceptionally good company, both funny and self-deprecating. He is devoted to his ponies and his dogs, passionate about polo and pig-sticking, and endures some extraordinary adventures in the First World War. However it is not his final destination that is memorable, but his idiosyncratic journey to establish some kind of truth.Trade ReviewOne of the most remarkable books in modern literature I have known no other instance of the genuine psychological record of any intimate touch of a western mind with the mind of the East. Rabindrath Tagore, Spectator

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Book SynopsisIn May 1935, twenty-two-year-old Max Reisch and nineteen-year-old Helmuth Hahmann set out in a small motor car to find a land route from India to China. Their journey across Asia took them from Haifa to Tokyo.In this lively account, the author regales us with one story after another, struck with wonder or struggling against disaster in countries which deeply concern us today: Iraq with its oilfields, ancient Iran in the throes of modernisation, proud Afghanistan, and British India with its stunning variety of civilisation.Before the building of the Burma Road, driving from India to southern China meant sinking over the axles in mud on forest tracks and crossing torrents on rickety ferryboats. It also meant encounters with strange and fascinating peoples and places. With war already on the horizon, Reisch and Hahmann completed their round-the-world trip via Japan and the United States, arriving back in Vienna in December 1936.Originally written by Max Reisch in German, this brand new English translation by Alison Falls captures all the excitement of the journey, and features fascinating historical photos of the journey from the Reisch archives.Trade ReviewMax Reisch's story telling is detailed and his style is an easy read, conversational and witty, aided no doubt with brilliant translation by Alison Falls. She brings the German text to an English audience, ensuring it remained free-flowing and exciting. This journey certainly was incredible and totally absorbing 80 years on; fully capturing the essence of adventure with pre-war cultures (many of which have disappeared) all enjoyed from the seat of a small Austrian motor car. A real `Boys Own' adventure featuring two young men who took a camera and drive around the world. - Grant Ford, Freelance. Reisch and his travelling companion, 19-year old Helmuth Hahmann, took the (literally and metaphorically) rough with the smooth along the way, and their approach to the locals was clearly one of respect and interest. That approach is explained thourghout the book and today's trustafarian travellers could do well to take note. Numerous visits to collect visas, source fuel, repair the car, and be feted at numerous soirees add to the story's flavour, making this far, far more than just a travelogue. Plaudits should be given not only to Reisch, whose enthusiasm brought the journey to fruition, but to translator Alison Falls, who has managed to preserve the trip's flavour without the stilted prose too many translated books suffer from. The result is an uplifting read ideal for both those with wanderlust, and those with an interest in cars. - on-magazine.co.uk. The book, An Incredible Journey: The Lost World of the 1930s Circled by Two Men in One Small Car, captures all the excitement of the journey including crossing torrents on rickety ferryboats, sinking over the axles on forest tracks and encountering strange and fascinating people and places. The enthralling text is backed up by a wealth of fascinating historical photographs taken during the adventure. The book will hold the attention of the reader as they discover a very different world of that of today. - Irish Vintage Scene. First published in Austria in 1984, this story of a remarkable overland journey is now available in English in a 288-pages softcover book. With its very good selection of black and white photos of people and places they came across, this is a fascinating account of a true motoring adventure! - Classic Driver Monthly. The 288-page paperback, with lots of great black and white photos, is a terrific adventure story and fun read, and worth a spot in the library of any classic car enthusiast. - Classic MGa wonderful book ... To be honest, the book is as delightful and interesting as a record of a lost world as it is a motoring journal ... I review a lot of books; this will remain one of my favourites. Hagerty Classic Cars newsletterTable of ContentsPreface by Peter ReischChapter 1 - Bitter pills, new plansChapter 2 - Four wheelsChapter 3 - The oil road to BaghdadChapter 4 - The lizard huntChapter 5 - Where the dead crowd close to AllahChapter 6 - Dust to dustChapter 7 - Foreign devilsChapter 8 - UrlajatChapter 9 - Hungarian Afghans, Bavarian AfghansChapter 10 - Closer to IndiaChapter 11 - KashmirChapter 12 - End of the first stageChapter 13 - The land of the smiling BuddhaChapter 14 - The Agency comes to callChapter 15 - Deep in the jungleChapter 16 - Folk festival at Inle lakeChapter 17 - Special deliveryChapter 18 - Dead prince and living princeChapter 19 - Honour the yellow robeChapter 20 - Laughing with SimbaChapter 21 - Two motorcycle fiendsChapter 22 - Success at lastChapter 23 - Held up in HanoiChapter 24 - Old Mr. Lai ShiChapter 25 - Motor car versus evil spiritsChapter 26 - In China it's differentChapter 27 - A war zoneChapter 28 - What Marco Polo sawChapter 29 - ShanghaiChapter 30 - Problems for the foreign visitorChapter 31 - "Yuku michi" in the land of delightsChapter 32 - The long goodbyeChapter 33 - Crossing AmericaChapter 34 - The collectorChapter 35 - Mexico to Salzburg: disaster strikes!Chapter 36 - Epilogue: the story continuesAppendix - Some notes on the Steyr 100 car

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Book SynopsisIn this journey of discovery, John Micklewright travels the slow way, on foot, on paths, tracks and byways from the Channel to the Alps – from the coast of Normandy to the flanks of Mont Blanc. The Opening Country is a beautifully written account of his progress through the French countryside, an evocative patchwork of landscape, nature, history, literature, film, and – drawing on his father’s diaries that stretch back to the 1930s – of memoir. Always curious, absorbing all around him, ready on a whim to divert from his chosen route as he heads unhurriedly southwards. The natural world unfolds as spring turns to summer with surprises of bird song and butterflies, against a constant background of reminders of the economic and social story of rural France and of wars past. The result is an engrossing record of a classic long-distance walk through Britain’s nearest continental neighbour. The Opening Country is a book to fire the imagination – a call to travel slowly, to open eyes and ears, to discover and explore.

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Book SynopsisThis travelogue moves along by Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, by the Burren, a land of strange beauty that inspired Tolkien, by the ruins of remotely-placed monastic shrines and chanting monks. Memories of W B Yeats, G B Shaw, John Millington Synge, Raftery and others are revived in Lady Gregory’s Coole Park, the nineteenth century literary workshop of Ireland where they planned the founding of the Abbey theatre. A trip by the royal sites of Ireland’s Ancient East opens up a lost world where at times history dissolves into myth – Tara of the high kings, the royal hill of Uisneach, Rathcroghan, seat of the warrior Queen Medb, Emain Macha, home of the kings of the Red Branch of Ulster. Viking raids occupy these pages too and King Henry Vlll’s dismantling of the monasteries one by one. The heady days of the nineteenth century land agitation are remembered when the forces of revolution joined with parliamentarians – Davitt and Parnell – giving the people the leadership they so tragically lacked during the Great Famine. Holding these ages together is the landscape, sedate and unchanged since it convulsed into shape when continents shifted in the great volcanic shake-up millions of years ago. But above all, it is the journeying companions that firmly plant this trip in the present – poets Michael Farry, the Kennelly brothers, singer-songwriter Christy Moore, local historian Gearoid O’Brien among other generous people, who come along to offer a vision of their youthful world.

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Book SynopsisAnthology of travel writing about South America. An enchanting scrapbook of travellers' personal narratives, both historical and contemporary. Covers the Amazon rainforest, Andean cloud forest, Galapagos, Machu Picchu, Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Features cities, wildlife, exploration, backpacking, gauchos, culture, adventure and misadventure.

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Book SynopsisTwain's playful exuberance and remarkable storytelling gifts are on full display as he regales readers with his real-life adventures, some of them so outrageous they cannot be true - or can they? As Richard Russo says in his fascinating introduction, Twain was an 'inspired, indeed, unparalleled, bullshitter' who himself cheerfully relates how as a cub reporter out West he had elevated a routine Indian attack on a wagon full of immigrants to a battle that 'to this day has no parallel in history' - once he knew he could get away with it.There is drama as well as comedy in his account of life on the Mississippi, and great sadness too when his younger brother Henry is killed in a steamboat explosion - all the more poignant for the restraint with which he describes it. In The Innocents Abroad Twain the gleeful iconoclast is a passenger on a cruise ship to Europe and the Holy Land, poking fun at European snobbery and pretension and refusing to be overawed by all that History - but fully prepared to aim his satirical barbs at his fellow-tourists and indeed, squarely at himself. He also proves to be a deeply compassionate writer, as fierce in his condemnation of injustice as he is skilful in mining the humour of human folly. He brought to literature a new, distinctly American voice - and he harboured as rich and fertile a blend of contradictions as the dynamic nation he came to embody and define.

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Book SynopsisThe most comprehensive anthology of writings by visitors to the eternal city ever compiled – witty, profound and endlessly entertaining. Drawing on French, Italian, Spanish, English, German, Scandinavian and American sources, Ronald Ridley has compiled a vivid collage-portrait of Rome through the centuries, illustrated with three hundred images and published in three elegant volumes: The Middles Ages to the Seventeenth Century, The Eighteenth Century and The Nineteenth Century. Presented here is the second volume. How did visitors arrive? Where did they stay? What were their expenses? What did they see of churches, palaces, villas and antiquities? What did they like or dislike of what they saw? What did they think of Rome in all its contemporary facets? What events did they witness? What portraits do they provide of people in Rome at the time of their visit? Excerpts from memoirs by more than two hundred visitors give a myriad fascinating insights and together provide a detailed account of Rome over nearly a millennium.Table of ContentsThe Eighteenth Century 1 TRAVELLERS 1 INTRODUCTION 9 BASILICAS, CHURCHES AND CATACOMBS 25 PALACES 57 VILLAS 88 ANTIQUITIES 108 COLLECTIONS OF ANTIQUITIES 142 CONTEMPORARY ROME 146 WITNESSED EVENTS 185 PORTRAITS 198 SOURCE NOTES 228 List of Popes 237 List of Illustrations 238 Note on Leading Illustrators 242 Sources 243

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Book Synopsis"Ronald’s detailed and thoroughly enjoyable collection shows how it can take a visitor to appreciate what the residents are so used to, they take for granted." — Camden New Journal/Islington Tribune/West End Extra The most comprehensive anthology of writings by visitors to the eternal city ever compiled – witty, profound and endlessly entertaining. Drawing on French, Italian, Spanish, English, German, Scandinavian and American sources, Ronald Ridley has compiled a vivid collage-portrait of Rome through the centuries, illustrated with three hundred images and published in three elegant volumes: The Middles Ages to the Seventeenth Century, The Eighteenth Century and The Nineteenth Century. Presented here is the third volume. How did visitors arrive? Where did they stay? What were their expenses? What did they see of churches, palaces, villas and antiquities? What did they like or dislike of what they saw? What did they think of Rome in all its contemporary facets? What events did they witness? What portraits do they provide of people in Rome at the time of their visit? Excerpts from memoirs by more than two hundred visitors give a myriad fascinating insights and together provide a detailed account of Rome over nearly a millennium.Trade Review"Ronald’s detailed and thoroughly enjoyable collection shows how it can take a visitor to appreciate what the residents are so used to they take for granted." - Camden New Journal/Islington Tribune/West End Extra

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Book SynopsisThe work that launched the picturesque movement and changed our ways of looking at landscape forever. A witty, elegant, opinionated pilgrimage of taste. Complete with 17 aquatints drawn by William Gilpin as examples of perfected landscape. Introduced by Richard Humphreys, who was Curator of Programme Research at Tate Britain and lead curator of their A Picture of Britain exhibition.

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Book SynopsisThe great French journalist Louis-Sébastien Mercier's descriptions of an optimistic, utopian 18th-century London. First English translation by Laurent Turcot and Jonathan Conlin. Contemporary illustrations in colour.

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Book SynopsisA remarkable nineteenth-century account of Istanbul – which begins with a dazzling description of the city gradually appearing through the fog as the author’s ship approaches the harbour – Constantinople expertly combines personal anecdote, breathtaking visual observation and entertaining historical information. An invaluable record of the metropolis as it used to be – a fascinating crossroads between Eastern and Western civilization and one of the most cosmopolitan cities of its time – as well as a vivid example of a European tourist’s reaction to it – part delight, part incomprehension – this book will provide an enriching read for lovers of history or those planning to visit Istanbul themselves.Trade ReviewDe Amicis's account of this great, even "monstrous", city is wonderfully eloquent: as restless and busy as Constantinople itself, teeming with the sights, sounds and smells of one of the greatest and most diverse cities on Earth. * The Guardian *A long work like de Amicis' is more than an average guide: it is a cinematographic view of late 19th century Istanbul. * Time Out Istanbul *Stephen Parkin’s translation is assured and lively, catching well the spirit of the original... Edmondo De Amicis’s book conjures up the eternal harem of Western imaginings, of alluring Oriental déshabillé and sensual decadence behind closed doors. * TLS *I had De Amicis’s text ready when I came to Istanbul. For he had seen what I cannot see today. -- Umberto Eco

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Book SynopsisAs a first-time visitor to London, De Amicis was awestruck by the bustle and magnificence of the Victorian metropolis and wrote a number of sketches in his trademark witty, observational style, which made him one of the best-selling travel writers of his age. Originally conceived as a series of newspaper articles and later published in volume form, De Amici's 'Memories of London' brings back to life all the bygone charm of the capital of the British Empire. De Amici's impressions are paired here with a piece written by one of his contemporaries, the French writer Louis Laurent Simonin, which leaves the city's opulence and granduer behind and offers an uncompromising look at the poverty and squalor of its most deprived areas.Trade Review[De Amicis] recounts his adventures in the capital with a relish and perspicacity that still resonates today. * The Good Book Guide *His descriptions of London in the 1870s have so many parallels today, even if there are not so many oyster shells lying about. * TLS *

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Book Synopsis

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