Travel Books Before 1900 That Are Enjoyable to Read

Extollager

Extollager

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A place to list and discuss such books. I'll start by nominating these five:

Dufferin (Lord). Letters from High Latitudes.
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Kennan, George. Tent Life in Siberia.
Kinglake, Alexander. Eothen.
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Parkman, Francis. The Oregon Trail.
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Twain, Mark. Roughing It.
 
The timeline is variable, starting in 1839; Bradshaw's Guides that concrentated on railway timetables, stations and a brief summary of the towns and cities they travelled through is worth a look.
 
Harpo said:
One that I’ve always wanted to read but never seen a copy is The Travels Of Sir John Mandeville
en.m.wikipedia.org

Mandeville's Travels - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org
Click to expand...
It's in Penguin Classics.

A more reliable medieval account of long travels is of course Marco Polo's book, which everyone should be acquainted with.
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To my list of 19th-century nonfiction I'll add Fanny Trollope's engaging Domestic Manners of the Americans. My North Dakotan reading group did not take offense.

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A couple more good ones...

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William Morris's Journals from Iceland -- yes, this is the same Morris who is a major figure in the history of modern fantasy (The Wood Beyond the World, The Well at the World's End, The Water of the Wondrous Isles, The Wanderings of the Wise-Wife). Get the Praeger reprint; there was a paperback edition in the 1990s or so that was criticized for its handling of Icelandic names, etc.

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Thoreau's Maine Woods -- by the time of writing this, he had shed some of his "Transcendental" style that was so abundant, from what I have seen, in his Concord and Merrimack Rivers book, though I do mean to take a serious attempt at that one before long). I recall it as a pleasing and lively read.

Cover art for The Wanderings of the Wise-Wife (Ballantine Fantasy series) without lettering:
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Extollager said:
William Morris's Journals from Iceland -- yes, this is the same Morris who is a major figure in the history of modern fantasy (The Wood Beyond the World, The Well at the World's End, The Water of the Wondrous Isles, The Wanderings of the Wise-Wife). Get the Praeger reprint; there was a paperback edition in the 1990s or so that was criticized for its handling of Icelandic names, etc.
Click to expand...
That last Morris romance title was a joke, btw. There's no such book as The Wanderings of the Wise-Wife -- yet, at least. I've thought of trying to write a story in the Morris manner someday. Probably too tall an order for me!
 
Anything by Twain. The Innocents Abroad is terrific.
Dickens’ American Notes for General Circulation is worth a read. I have a nice HB from the early 20th century.
 
I've enjoyed more than an hour or two planning a trip across the USA using Appleton's Railway Guide to the USA and Canada.
My repro is a lovely [faux] leather soft binding that feel great in the hand and perfect for travelling with.
 
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