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Note: List of entries is preliminary and may change prior to publication.

B

Brazil

Travel Writing

Agassiz, Louis and Elizabeth Agassiz, A Journey in Brazil, 1868; reprinted, 1969

Account, largely written by Elizabeth Agassiz, of the Amazon expedition led by her professor husband.

Anchieta, José de, Cartas, informações, fragmentos históricose sermões, edited by Afrânio Peixoto, 1933; reprinted, 1988

Contains accounts of life in 16th-century Brazil with the aim of facilitating the missionary work of the Jesuits.

Andrade, Mário de, O turista aprendiz, edited by Telê Porto Ancona Lopez, 1976

Record of travels by one of Brazil’s best-known writers in the north of the country, with the aim of studying different forms of folkloric expression.

Ashe, Thomas, A Commercial View, and Geographical Sketch, of the Brasils in South America, and of the Island of Madeira, 1812

Description of Brazil produced as a guide to business opportunities for British merchants.

Avé-Lallemant, Robert, Reise durch Sud-Brasilien im Jahre 1858, 2 vols, 1859

Avé-Lallemant, Robert, Reise durch Nord-Brasilien im Jahre 1859, 2 vols, 1860

Detailed accounts of extensive travels.

Bates, Henry Walter, The Naturalist on the River Amazons, 2 vols, 1863

Detailed study of the Amazon by a scientist who spent ten years in the region.

Bougainville, Louis de, Voyage autour du monde, 1771; as A Voyage round the World, translated by John Reinhold Forster, 1772, reprinted, 1967

Briefly describes a visit to Rio de Janeiro in 1767.

Burmeister, Hermann, Reise nach Brasilien, durch die Provinzen von Rio de Janeiro und Minas Geraës, 1853

Account by a scientist based on travels undertaken in early 1850s.

Burton, Richard F., Explorations of the Highlands of the Brazil; with a Full Account of the Gold and Diamond Mines, 2 vols, 1869

Particularly valuable regarding the social, economic and cultural life of Minas Gerais.

Caminha, Pero Vaz de, A carta de Pero Vaz de Caminha, edited by Jaime Cortesão, 1943

The first detailed account of European contact with Brazil, dated 1 May 1500.

Claude, d’Abbeville, Histoire de la mission des pères capucins en l’isle de Maragnan et terres circonvoisines ou et traicte des singularitez admirables et des meurs merueilleuses des indiens habitans de ce pays, 1614

Account of the author’s experiences as a missionary among the Brazilian Indians.

Codman, John, Ten Months in Brazil, with Incidents of Voyages and Travels, Descriptions of Scenery and Character, Notices of Commerce and Production, 1867

Wide-ranging discussion of life in southern Brazil, by the captain of a merchant ship.

Davies, William, A True Relation of the Travailes and Most Miserable Captivitie of William Davies, Barber-Surgion of London, under the Duke of Florence, 1614

Discusses a voyage to the Amazon which the author underwent while enslaved on an Italian ship.

Debret, Jean-Baptiste, Voyage pittoresque et historique au Brésil, 3 vols, 1834[-]39

Valuable sketches of people and places seen, with commentary.

Dent, Hastings Charles, A Year in Brazil, with Notes on the Abolition of Slavery, the Finances of the Empire, Religion, Meteorology, Natural History, etc., 1886

Detailed account of life in Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and northeast Brazil.

Durtain, Luc, Imagens do Brasil e do Pampa, translated by Ronald de Carvalho, 1933

Reflections on Brazil by a French author and member of the Groupe de l’Abbaye, translated by a well-known Brazilian poet and literary critic.

Edwards, William Henry, A Voyage up the River Amazon, Including a Residence at Pará, 1847

American naturalist’s account of extensive travels in the Amazon region.

Eschwege, Wilhelm Ludwig von, Journal von Brasilien; oder, Vermischte Nachrichten aus Brasilien, 2 vols, 1818

Eschwege, Wilhelm Ludwig von, Pluto Brasiliensis, 1833

Works focusing on the geography and geology of Brazil.

Expilly, Charles, Les Femmes et les moeurs du Brésil, 1863

Account by a Frenchman who lived in Brazil and wrote about living conditions and social customs.

Flecknoe, Richard, A Relation of Ten Years Travels in Europe, Asia, Affrique and America, 1654

Contains a description of Rio de Janeiro, where the author stayed for six months in 1648.

Fleming, Peter, Brazilian Adventure, 1933

Fleming joined an expedition to try to ascertain what had happened to the explorer Colonel Fawcett, who disappeared in Brazil in 1925. The mystery remained unsolved, but Fleming gives a lively account of his experiences in the Brazilian interior.

Florence, Hercules, Voyage fluvial du Tieté à l’Amazone, 1875

Records a French scientist’s travels in the Amazon in the years 1825[-]29.

Gândavo, Pero de Magalhães de, Tratado da terra do Brasil, written c.1570

Gândavo, Pero de Magalhães de, História da Província de Santa Cruz a que vulgarmente chamamos Brasil, 1576; as The Histories of Brazil, translated and edited by John B. Stetson, Jr, 2 vols, 1922

Early but detailed accounts of Brazil’s natural environment and resources, and the customs of the indigenous population.

Gardner, George, Travels in the Interior of Brazil, Principally through the Northern Provinces, and the Gold and Diamond Districts, during the Years 1836[-]1841, 1846; reprinted, 1973

Valuable descriptions of Brazil based on extensive travels by a British botanist.

Graham, Maria, Journal of a Voyage to Brazil, and Residence There, during Part of the Years 1821, 1822, 1823, 1824; reprinted, 1969

Detailed descriptions of life in Rio de Janeiro, Recife, and Salvador.

Hoffmann-Harnisch, Wolfgang, Brasilien: Bildnis eines tropischen Grossreiches, 1938

Optimistic account of Brazil by the German historian and director.

Kidder, Daniel P., Sketches of Residence and Travels in Brazil, 2 vols, 1845

Travelogue by a Protestant missionary.

Knivet, Anthony, The Admirable Adventures and Strange Fortunes of Master Antonie Knivet, Which Went with Master Thomas Candish in His Second Voyage to the South Sea, 1591, in Purchas His Pilgrimes, vol. 4, 1625

Knivet travelled with the pirate Thomas Cavendish to Brazil and lived for eight years in the country.

Koster, Henry, Travels in Brazil, 1816

Valuable insight into life in northeast Brazil.

La Condamine, Charles-Marie de, Relation abrégée d’un voyage fait dans l’intérieur de l’Amérique Méridionale, depuis la côte de la Mer du Sud, jusqu’aux côtes du Brésil et de la Guyane, en descendant la rivière des Amazones, 1745; as A Succinct Abridgment of a Voyage Made within the Inland Parts of South-America, 1747

Description of a journey along the Amazon River in 1743.

Léry, Jean de, Histoire d’un voyage fait en la terre du Brésil, autrement dite Amerique, 1578; as History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil, Otherwise Called America, translated by Janet Whatley, 1990

Arguably the most valuable source of information about Indian life in 16th-century Brazil.

Lindley, Thomas, Narrative of a Voyage to Brasil: Terminating in the Seizure of a British Vessel, and the Imprisonment of the Author and the Ship’s Crew by the Portuguese, 1805

Account of the author’s experience as a prisoner in Salvador, and the life and environment of the town.

Luccock, John, Notes on Rio de Janeiro, and the Southern Parts of Brazil: Taken during a Residence of Ten Years in That Country, from 1808 to 1818, 1820

Detailed account of economic and social life in southern Brazil.

McPhee, Brian, Down the Nowhere River: A Brazilian Journey, 1992

Mawe, John, Travels in the Interior of Brazil, Particularly in the Gold and Diamond District of That Country, 1812; 2nd edition, 1823

An account which particularly focuses on economic activities.

Mulhall, Marion McMurrough, Between the Amazon and Andes; or, Ten Years of a Lady’s Travels in the Pampas, Gran Chaco, Paraguay and Matto Grosso, 1881

Describes Rio Grande do Sul and Matto Grosso.

Nóbrega, Manuel da, Cartas do Brasil (1549[-]1560), 1931; reprinted, 1988

Informative accounts of colonial life in Brazil.

Nugent, Stephen, Big Mouth: The Amazon Speaks, 1990

Seeks to break through the stereotypes created about the Amazon and address the key issues confronting the region.

Reclus, Élisée, Nouvelle Geógraphie universelle: La terre et les hommes, vol. 19: Amerique du Sud: l’Amazonie et la Plata, 1894

Contains a substantial section on Brazilian geography.

Ribeyrolles, Charles, Brazil pittoresco, 1859

An account of Brazilian society by a French political exile.

Roosevelt, Theodore, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, 1914

Detailed description of the environment based on an expedition to Mato Grosso and the Amazon in 1913 and 1914.

Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de, Voyages dans l’intérieur du Brésil, 8 vols, 1830[-]51

Detailed account by a French botanist who spent nearly seven years travelling in Brazil (1816[-]22).

Salgado, Plínio, Geographía sentimental, 1937

Discussion of Brazilian geography and social customs.

Seidler, Carl, Zehn Jahre in Brasilien während der Regierung Dom Pedro’s und nach dessen Entthronung, 2 vols, 1835

Records travels through southern Brazil.

Semple Lisle, James George, The Life of Major J.G. Semple Lisle, Containing a Faithful Narrative of His Alternate Vicissitudes of Splendor and Misfortune, 1799

One of the most vivid descriptions of southern Brazil in the 18th century.

Sepp von Reinegg, Anton, RR. PP. Antonii Sepp und Antonii Böhm … Reissbeschreibung, wie dieselbe aus Hispanien in Paraquariam kommen, 1697; as An Account of a Voyage from Spain to Paraquaria, in A Collection of Voyages and Travels, edited by Awnsham Churchill, vol. 4, 1704

Contains a description of missionary work in southern Brazil.

Smith, Herbert H., Brazil, the Amazons and the Coast, 1879

Account of travels in the early 1870s by an American scientist.

Sousa, Gabriel Soares de, Tratado descritivo do Brasil em 1587, edited by Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen, 4th edition, 1971

Regarded by many critics as the most important source of written information about life in 16th-century Brazil.

Spix, Johann Baptist von and Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, Reise in Brasilien in den Jahren 1817[-]1820, 3 vols, 1823[-]31; partial translation, as Travels in Brazil in the Years 1817[-]1820, translated by H.E. Lloyd, 2 vols, 1824

Valuable source of information about early 19th-century life and society in Brazil.

Staden, Hans, Warhaftige Historia und Beschreibung eyner Landtschafft der Wilden, Nacketen, Grimmigen Menschfresser Leuthen, in der Newenwelt America gelegen, 1557, facsimile, 1925; as Hans Staden: The True History of His Captivity, 1557, translated and edited by Malcolm Letts, 1928

Account of the eight months Staden spent as a prisoner of Brazilian Indians in 1549.

Staunton, George, An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China, 3 vols, 1797

Includes a description of a six-week visit to Rio de Janeiro.

Steinen, Karl von den, Durch Central-Brasilien, 1886

Steinen, Karl von den, Unter den Naturvölkern Zentral-Brasiliens, 1894

Valuable ethnographic studies based on extensive travels in the Amazon.

Thevet, André, Les Singularitez de la France antarctique, autrement nommée Amerique, et de plusieurs terres et isles découvertes de notre temps, 1558; as The New Found Worlde; or, Antarctike, translated by Thomas Hacket, 1568, facsimile, 1971

Description by a French friar who witnessed the establishment of the first French colony in Brazil in 1555, mainly concentrating on the natural environment and the native inhabitants.

Thomsen, Moritz, The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey on Two Rivers, 1991

A journey through Brazil becomes a journey of self-discovery.

Vespucci, Amerigo, letters to Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de’ Medici, 1500 and 1502; in The Letters of Amerigo Vespucci and Other Documents Illustrative of His Career, translated by Clements R. Markham, 1894

Brief descriptions of travels along the Brazilian coast.

Wallace, Alfred Russel, A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, 1853; 2nd edition, 1889; reprinted, 1969

Scientist’s account of the Amazon region.

Wied-Neuwied, Prince Maximilian of, Reise nach Brasilien in den Jahren 1815 bis 1817, 2 vols, 1820[-]21; as Travels in Brazil, in the Years 1815, 1816, and 1817, 1820

Detailed account of an expedition by naturalists.

White, John, Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, 1790

Describes a visit to Rio de Janeiro on the way to Australia.

Wright, Marie Robinson, The New Brazil: Its Resources and Attractions, 1901; 2nd edition, 1907

Detailed account of Brazil in the late 19th century, with valuable descriptions of architecture.

Further Reading

Dutra, Francis A., A Guide to the History of Brazil, 1500[-]1822: The Literature in English, Santa Barbara, California and Oxford: ABC[-]Clio, 1980

Hahner, June E. (editor), Women through Women’s Eyes: Latin American Women in Nineteenth-Century Travel Accounts, Wilmington, Delaware: SR, 1998

Levine, Robert M., Brazil, 1822[-]1930: An Annotated Bibliography for Social Historians, New York: Garland, 1983

Mello-Leitão, Candido de, Visitantes do primeiro império, São Paulo: Nacional, 1934

Moraes, Rubens Borba de and William Berrien (editors), Manual bibliográfico de estudos brasileiros, Rio de Janeiro: Souza, 1949

Moraes, Rubens Borba de, Bibliographia Brasiliana, 2 vols, Amsterdam and Rio de Janeiro: Colibris, 1958; revised edition, Los Angeles: UCLA Latin America Center Publications, and Rio de Janeiro: Kosmas, 1983

Naylor, Bernard, Accounts of Nineteenth-Century South America: An Annotated Checklist of Works by British and United States Observers, London: Athlone Press, 1969

Stern, Irwin (editor), Dictionary of Brazilian Literature, New York: Greenwood Press, 1988

Taunay, Afonso de Escragnolle, Visitantes do Brasil colonial: sêculos XVI[-]XVIII, São Paulo: Nacional, 1933; 2nd edition, 1938


Brito, Bernardo Gomes de (1688[-]c.1759)

Portuguese bibliophile

Travel Writing

História trágico-marítima, em que se escrevem chronologicamente os naufrágios que tiveram as naus de Portugal, depois que se põs em exercício a navegação da Índia, 2 vols, 1735[-]1736; edited by António Sérgio, 3 vols, 1956[-]1957; as The Tragic History of the Sea, 1589[-]1622: Narratives of the Shipwrecks of the Portuguese East Indiamen São Thomé (1589), Santo Alberto (1593), São João Baptista (1622) and the Journeys of the Survivors in South East Africa, edited by C.R. Boxer, 1959; Further Selections from the Tragic History of the Sea, 1559[-]1565: Narratives of the Shipwrecks of the Portuguese East Indiamen Aguia and Garça (1559), São Paulo (1561) and the Misadventures of the Brazil-ship Santo Antonio (1565), edited and translated by C.R. Boxer, 1968

Further Reading

Araújo, Maria Benedita, “Os relatos de naufrágios” in Condicionantes Culturais da Literatura de Viagens, edited by Fernando Cristóvão, Lisbon: Edições Cosmos, 1999

Boxer, C.R. (editor), “An Introduction to the História Trágico-Marítima” in Miscelânea de Estudos em Honra do prof. Hernâni Cidade, Lisbon: Faculdade de Letras de Universidade de Lisboa, 1957

Seixo, Maria Alzira and Alberto Carvalho (editors), A História Trágico-Marítima: Análises e perspectivas, Lisbon: Edições Cosmos, 1996


Arthur de Capell Brooke 1791[-]1858

British landowner and traveller

Travel Writing

Travels through Sweden, Norway, and Finmark [sic] to the North Cape, in the Summer of 1820, 1823

A Winter in Lapland and Sweden, with Various Observations Relating to Finmark [sic] and its Inhabitants Made During a Residence at Hammerfest, Near the North Cape, 1826

Winter Sketches in Lapland, or Illustrations of a Journey from Alten, on the Shores of the Polar Sea, in 69 Degrees 55 Minutes North Latitude, through Norwegian, Russian [sic], and Swedish Lapland to Tornea, at the Entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia, Intended to Exhibit a Complete View of the Mode of Travelling with Reindeer, the Most Striking Incidents that Occurred during the Journey, and the General Character of the Scenery of Lapland and Sweden, 1827

Sketches in Spain and Morocco, 2 vols, 1831

Further Reading

Stagg, Frank Noel, North Norway: A History, London: Allen and Unwin, 1952

Fascinating in its own right, as a wide-ranging history of a region still relatively little known to outsiders, and, in its lightly worn erudition and evident sympathy for the people described, a welcome corrective to Brooke’s account.


James Bruce of Kinnaird
1730[-]1794

British traveller to Ethiopia and the source of the Blue Nile

Travel Writing

Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773, by James Bruce of Kinnaird, Esq., F.R.S., 5 vols, 1790; 2nd edition, corrected and enlarged and edited by A. Murray with a life of Bruce by H. Salt, 8 vols, 1804[-]05; 3rd edition, 8 vols, 1813

Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, by James Bruce, selected and edited with an introduction by C.F. Beckingham, 1964

Further Reading

Abir, M., “Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa” in The Cambridge History of Africa, general editors, J.D. Fage and Roland Oliver, vol. 4: From c.1600 to c.1790, edited by Richard Gray, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1975

A straightforward and reasonably detailed political account that explains the situation in which Bruce found himself.

Bredin, Miles, The Pale Abyssinian: A Life of James Bruce, African Explorer and Adventurer, London: HarperCollins, 2000

Contains an unconvincing theory that Bruce, as a freemason, was searching for the Ark of the Covenant, erroneously assumes that Bruce has been undervalued and forgotten, misunderstands much of African travel and history, critical apparatus deplorably lacking in such an ambitious work but recounts Bruce’s career fully and attractively enough.

[Bridges, Roy C.], “Africa: The Approach from the North and West”, The Times Atlas of World Exploration, edited by Felipe Fernández-Armesto, London: HarperCollins, 1991

Provides a very brief account of Bruce’s travels, some maps and an attempt to set Bruce in the context of the European exploration of Africa.

Head, F.B., The Life of Bruce, the African Traveller, London: Murray, 1830

Sir Francis Head’s work was the first full-scale biography to appear. It summarizes Bruce’s travels and defends his character from earlier aspersions.

Reid, J.M., Traveller Extraordinary: The Life of James Bruce of Kinnaird, London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, and New York: Norton, 1968

A sound biography based mainly on the printed Travels but Reid is aware of the documentary material extant and makes some limited use of it. In general, however, the critical apparatus is disappointing.


Bruijn, Cornelis de (c.1652[-]1726/27)

Dutch traveller and painter

Travel Writing

Reizen van Cornelis de Bruyn, door de vermaardste Deelen van Klein Asia, de eylanden Scio, Rhodus, Cyprus, Metelino, Stanchio, etc. mitsgaders de voornaamste steden van Aegypten, Syrien en Palestina, verrijkt met meer als 200 kopere konstplaaten, vertoonende de beroemdste Landschappen, Steden, etc. alles door den auteur selfs na het leven afgetekend, 1698; as Voyage au Levant, 1700; as A Voyage to the Levant; or, Travels in the Principal Parts of Asia Minor…, translated by J.W. London, 1702

Reizen over Moskovie, door Persie en Indie: Verrykt met Driehondert konstplaten, Vertoonende De beroemdste lantschappen en steden, ook de byzondere dragten, beesten, gewassen en planten, die daer gevonden worden: Voor al derzelver oudheden En wel voornamentlyk heel uitvoerig, die van het heerlyke en van oudts de geheele werrelt door befaemde Hof van Persepolis, By de Persianen Tchilminar genaemt, 1711

Aenmerkingen Over de Printverbeeldingen van de Overblyfzelen van het Oude Persepolis. Onlangs uitgegeven door de Heeren Chardin en Kempfer, waer in derzelver mistekeningen en gebreken klaer worden aengewezen, door Cornelis de Bruin, 1714

Voyages de Corneille le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes Orientales…On y a ajouté la route qu’a suivie Mr. Isbrants, Ambassadeur de Moscovie, en traversant la Russie & la Tartarie, pour se rendre à la Chine. Et quelques remarques contre Mrs. Chardin & Kempfer. Avec une lettre écrite à l’Auteur, sur ce sujet, 2 vols, 1718; translated as Travels into Muscovy, Persia,  and the East-Indies, 2 vols, 1737

Further Reading

Cornelis de Bruijn: Voyages from Rome to Jerusalem and from Moscow to Batavia, Amsterdam: Allard Pierson Museum, 1998

Drijvers, Jan Willem, “Cornelis de Bruijn and Gisbert Cuper: A Skilled Artist and a Learned Discussion” in Achaemenid History VII: Through Travellers’ Eyes. European Travellers on the Iranian Monuments, edited by Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg and Jan Willem Drijvers, Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 1991

Drijvers, Jan Willem, Jan de Hond and Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg (editors), “Ik hadde de Nieusgierigheid”: De Reizen door het Nabije Oosten van Cornelis de Bruijn (ca. 1652[-]1727), Leiden: Peeters, 1997

Hond, Jan de, “Cornelis de Bruijn (1652[-]1726/27). A Dutch Painter in the East” in Eastward Bound: Dutch Ventures and Adventures in the Middle East, edited by Geert Jan van Gelder and Ed de Moor, Amsterdam and Atlanta, Georgia: Rodopi, 1994


Bry, Theodore de 1528[-]1598

Flemish illustrator and engraver

Travel Writing illustrated by de Bry

Collectiones peregrinationum in Indiam orientalem et Indiam occidentalem, 25 vols, 1590[-]1634; as Americae, 1590[-]1634; edited by Gereon Sievernich, 1990

Further Reading

Alexander, Michael (editor), Discovering the New World, New York: Harper and Row, and London: London Editions, 1976

Bucher, Bernadette, Icon and Conquest: A Structural Analysis of the Illustrations of de Bry’s Great Voyages, translated by Basia Miller Gulati, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981

Duchet, Michèle et al., L’Amérique de Théodore de Bry: une collection de voyages protestante du XVIe siècle: quatre études d’iconographie, Paris: Presses du CNRS, 1987

Keazor, Henry, “Theodore De Bry’s Images for America”, Print Quarterly, 15 (1998): 131[-]49

Mayor, A.H., Prints and People: A Social History of Printed Pictures, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1971

Whitehead, Neil L., “Hans Staden & the Cultural Politics of Cannibalism”, Hispanic American Historical Review, 80/4 (2000): 721[-]51


Buccaneer Narratives

Manuscripts

Bartholomew Sharpe’s journal dated 1683, formerly Lot 245 in Christie’s sale 13[-]14 June 1978.  Now in private hands.

British Library, London, Sloane MS 46A. Copy of Sharpe’s journal, c.1685

British Library, London, Sloane MS 46B. Copy of Sharpe’s journal, 1683

Cambridge, Pepys MSS 2610, 2874. Copies of Sharpe’s journal both dated c.1684

Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, MA 3310. Copy of Sharpe’s journal, 1695

Naval History Library, Taunton, Somerset, MS 4. Copy of Sharpe’s journal, 1698

British Library, London, Sloane MS 3820. Basil Ringrose’s journal (holograph), undated but before 1683.

British Library, London, Sloane MS 48. Copy of Basil Ringrose’s journal by Phillip Dassigny with illustrations by William Hack

British Library, London, Sloane MS 54. Cowley’s journal.

British Library, London, Sloane MS 1050. Cowley’s journal (another copy).

Lambeth Palace Library, London, MS 642. Cowley’s Journal (another copy).

British Library, London, Sloane MS 3236. Dampier’s journal.

British Library, London, Addl. MS 33054. Wafer’s journal.

Books

Dampier, William, A New Voyage round the World […], 1697; with an introduction by Percy G. Adams and a new introduction by Sir Albert Gray, 1968

Defoe, Daniel, The Life, Adventures, and Piracies, of the Famous Captain Singleton, 1720; edited by Shiv K. Kumar, with an introduction by Penelope Wilson, 1990

Defoe, Daniel, A New Voyage round the World by a Course Never Sailed Before, 1725; edited by G.A. Aitken, 1895

Exquemelin, A.O., De Americaenesche Zee Roovers, 4 vols, 1678; as The Bucaniers of America: The Second Volume Containing the Dangerous Voyage and Bold Attempts of Captain Bartholomew Sharp and Others … Written by Mr. Basil Ringrose, Gent. Who Was All along Present at Those Transactions, 1684; as The Buccaneers of America, edited with an introduction by Henry Powell, 1893; translated by Alexis Brown, 1969

Hacke, William, A Collection of Original Voyages, 1699; facsimile, with an introduction by Glyndwr Williams, 1993

Wafer, Lionel, A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America, 1699; edited with an introduction by L.E. Elliott Joyce, 1934

Further Reading

Campbell, Tony, “The Drapers’ Company: And Its School of Seventeenth-Century Chart-Makers” in My Head is a Map: Essays in Honour of R.V. Tooley, edited by Helen Wallis and Sarah Tyacke, London: Francis Edwards and Carta Press, 1973

Edwards, Philip, The Story of the Voyage: Sea-Narratives in Eighteenth-Century England, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994

Gerhard, Peter, Pirates on the West Coast of New Spain, 1575[-]1742, Glendale, California: Clark, 1960; as Pirates of the Pacific, 1575[-]1742, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990

Howse, Derek, and Norman J.W. Thrower (editors), A Buccaneer’s Atlas, by Basil Ringrose, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992

Kelly, James, “The Pirate, the Ambassador and the Mapmaker”, History Today, 48/7 (1998): 49[-]55

Kemp, P.K. and Christopher Lloyd, The Brethren of the Coast: The British and French Buccaneers in the South Seas, London: Heinemann, 1960; as The Brethren of the Coast: Buccaneers of the South Seas, New York: St Martin’s Press, 1961

Lloyd, Christopher, “Bartholomew Sharpe, Buccaneer”, The Mariner’s Mirror, 42 (1956): 291[-]301

Lynam, Edward, “William Hack and the South Sea Buccaneers” in his The Mapmaker’s Art: Essays on the History of Maps, London: Batchworth Press, 1953

Peter, T. Bradley, “Sharp and Company: The First of the Buccaneers (1679[-]82)”, in The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598[-]1701, London: Macmillan, and New York: St Martin’s Press, 1989

Prebble, John, The Darien Disaster, London: Secker and Warburg, 1968

Williams, Glyndwr, “‘The Inexhaustible Fountain of Gold’: English Projects and Ventures in the South Seas, 1670[-]1750” in Perspectives of Empire: Essays Presented to Gerald S. Graham, edited by John E. Flint and Glyndwr Williams, London: Longman, and New York: Barnes and Noble, 1973

Williams, Glyndwr, The Great South Sea: English Voyages and Encounters, 1570[-]1750, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1997

Zahediah, Nuala, “‘A Frugal, Prudential and Hopeful Trade’: Privateering in Jamaica, 1655[-]89”, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 18 (1990): 145[-]68


James Silk Buckingham 1786[-]1855

British traveller and writer

Travel Writing

Travels in Palestine, through the Countries of Bashan and Gilead, East of the River Jordan, etc., 1821

Travels among the Arab Tribes Inhabiting the Countries East of Syria and Palestine … etc., 1825

Travels in Mesopotamia: Including a Journey from Aleppo to Bagdad, by the Route of Beer, Orfah, Diarbekr, Mardin and Mousul, etc., 2 vols, 1827

Travels in Assyria, Media, and Persia etc., 2 vols, 1829

Sketch of Mr. Buckingham’s Life, Travels, Political and Literary Labours and Lectures on the Oriental World, 1829; revised edition as Improved Syllabus of Mr. Buckingham’s Lectures on the Oriental World, Preceded by a Sketch of His Life, Travels and Writings, etc., 1830

America, Historical, Statistic, and Descriptive, 3 vols, 1841

The Eastern and Western States of America, 3 vols, 1842

The Slave States of America, 2 vols, 1842

Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Other British Provinces in North America, with a Plan of National Colonization, 1843

Belgium, the Rhine, Switzerland, and Holland: An Autumnal Tour, 2 vols, 1848

France, Piedmont, Italy, Lombardy, the Tyrol, and Bavaria: An Autumnal Tour, 1848

Further Reading

Buckingham, James Silk, National Evils and Practical Remedies: With the Plan of a Model Town, London: P. Jackson Late and Fisher, 1849; Clifton, New Jersey: A.M. Kelley, 1973

Buckingham, James Silk, Autobiography of James Silk Buckingham, Including His Voyages, Travels, Adventures, Speculations, Successes and Failures, Faithfully and Frankly Narrated; Interspersed with Characteristic Sketches of Public Men with Whom He Has Had Intercourse, during a Period of More Than Fifty Years ..., 2 vols, London: Longman Brown Green and Longmans, 1855

Downs, Robert B., Images of America: Travelers from Abroad in the New World, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987

Contains summary of Buckingham’s career and synopsis of The Eastern and Western States of America (pp.84[-]89).

Mumford, Lewis, The Story of Utopias, New York: Boni and Liveright, 1922; London: Harrap, 1923

Mumford gives a generally positive appraisal of Buckingham’s model town, “One of the neglected utopias of the mid-19th century,” (pp.124[-]29).

Nevins, Allan, America through British Eyes, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1948

Nevins describes Buckingham as “one of the most intelligent, energetic, and liberal of British visitors to America before the Civil War.” Excerpts from America: Historical, Statistic, and Descriptive related to New York City and American women are included.

Turner, Ralph E., James Silk Buckingham, 1786[-]1855: A Social Biography, New York: McGraw-Hill, and London: Williams and Norgate, 1934

Connects Buckingham with larger reform movement and social history of 19th-century Britain.

Vincent, Andrew, “Western Travellers to Southern Syria and the Hawran in the Nineteenth Century: A Changing Perspective”, Asian Affairs, 24/2 (June 1993): 164[-]69

Vincent believes travellers in the early decades of the 19th century, including Buckingham, to have been more reliable than later accounts during the height of European imperialism.


Cristoforo Buondelmonti c.1385[-]1430

Florentine monk and traveler

Travel Writing

Librum insularum Archipelagi [Book of the Islands in the Archipelago], edited by Gabriel Rudolf Ludwig von Sinner, 1824 (written 1422)

Further Reading

Almagià, Roberto, entry on Cristoforo Buondelmonti in Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, vol. 8, Milan: Istituto Giovanni Treccani, 1930

Billetta, Rudolf, Der Heilige Berg Athos in Zeugnissen aus sieben Jahrhunderten, vol. 2, Vienna: Mosaic, 1992

Bréhier, L., entry on Cristoforo Buondelmonti in Dictionnaire d’Histoire et de Géographie Ecclésiastiques, vol. 10, edited by Alfred Baudrillart, A. De Meyer and É. Van Cauwenbergh, Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1938

Gothóni, René, Tales and Truth: Pilgrimage on Mount Athos Past and Present, Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 1994

Jacobus, Emil, “Cristoforo Buondelmonti. Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis seines Lebens und seiner Schriften” in Beiträge zur Bücherkunde und Philologie August Wilmanns zum 25. März 1903 gewidmet, (1903): 313[-]40

Legrand, Émile (translator and editor), “Description des Iles de l’Archipel par Christophe Buondelmonti. Version grecque par un anonyme” in Publications de l’École des Langues Orientales Vivantes, series 4, vol. 14, Paris: Libraire de la Société Asiatique, 1897

The standard translation of and commentary on Buondelmonti’s Librum.

Pertusi, Agostino, “Monasteri e Monaci Italiani all’Athos nell’alto Medioevo” in Le Millénaire du Mont Athos, 963[-]1963, vol. 1:, Études et Mélanges, Chevetogne: Éditions de Chevetogne, 1963

Weiss, Robert, entry on Cristoforo Buondelmonti in Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, vol. 15, Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1972

The most detailed biographical account of Buondelmonti.


William John Burchell 1781[-]1863

British naturalist and traveler

Travel Writing

Hints on Emigration to the Cape of Good Hope, 1819

Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa, 2 vols, 1822[-]24; reprinted with additional material and an introduction by I. Schapera, 1953; selections, edited by H. Clement Notcutt, 1935

Further Reading

Entry on William John Burchell, in Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, London: Smith Elder, 1885[-]1900: vol. 7

Ferrez, Gilberto (editor), O Brasil do Primeiro Reinado visto pelo botânico William John Burchell, Rio de Janeiro: Fundação João Moreira, and Salles: Fundação Nacional Pró-Memória, 1981

McKay, Helen M., “William John Burchell in St Helena”, South African Journal of Science, 31 (1934): 481[-]89

McKay, Helen M., “William John Burchell, Scientist”, South African Journal of Science, 32 (1935): 689[-]95

McKay, Helen M. (editor), The South African Drawings of William J. Burchell, 2 vols, Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1938[-]52

Poulton, E.B., “William John Burchell” in Addresses and Papers Read at the Joint Meeting of the British and South African Associations for the Advancement of Science, Held in South Africa, 1905, vol. 3, Johannesburg: South African Association for the Advancement of Science, 1906


John Lewis Burckhardt
1784[-]1817

Swiss traveler

Travel Writing

Travels in Nubia, edited by W.M. Leake, 1819

Travels in Syria and the Holy Land, etc., edited by W.M. Leake, 1822

Travels in Arabia, Comprehending an Account of Those Territories in Hedjaz Which the Mohammedans Regard as Sacred, 2 vols, edited by William Ouseley, 2 vols, 1829

Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys Collected during His Travels in the East, 2 vols, edited by William Ouseley, 2 vols, 1830

Scheik Ibrahim (Johann Ludwig Burckhardt). Briefe an Eltern und Geschwister, edited by Carl Burckhardt-Sarasin, 1956

Burckhardt’s correspondence with his family that amplifies that published by Leake; published as by Scheik Ibrahim.

Further Reading

Bidwell, Robin, Travellers in Arabia, London: Hamlyn, 1976

The book summarizes Burckhardt’s travels in western Arabia and places them in context.

Burckhardt, J.L., Arabic Proverbs; or, The Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians Illustrated from Their Proverbial Sayings Current at Cairo, edited by William Ouseley, London: John Murray, 1830

Following his discovery of a collection of proverbs made by Sherif ed dyn Ibn Asad (sic), Burckhardt spent much of his leisure time in Cairo editing, amplifying, and explaining them. Ouseley, a distinguished orientalist, produced a final selection.

Hallett, Robin (editor), Records of the African Association, 1788[-]1831, London and New York: Nelson, 1964

This work contains the basic documentation on Burckhardt’s appointment.

Hallett, Robin, The Penetration of Africa: European Enterprise and Exploration Principally in Northern and Western Africa up to 1830, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, and New York: Praeger, 1965 (vol. 1 only published)

The author outlines the history of European exploration in Africa and the role of the African Association.

Halls, J.J., The Life and Correspondence of Henry Salt, 2 vols, London: Bentley, 1834

Salt was British consul in Cairo at the time of Burckhardt’s death.

Hogarth, D.G., The Penetration of Arabia: A Record of the Development of Western Knowledge Concerning the Arabian Peninsula, New York: Stokes, 1904, London: Alston Rivers, 1905; reprinted, Westport, Connecticut: Hyperion Press, 1981

The author was a distinguished archaeologist and anthropologist who had travelled widely in the Near East and provides a sympathetic evaluation of Burckhardt’s achievements.

Leake, William Martin, “Memoir on the Life and Travels of John Lewis Burckhardt” in Travels in Nubia, by John Lewis Burckhardt, London: John Murray, 1819

An outline of Burckhardt’s life and travels based on his journals and letters by the Secretary of the African Association. Leake had travelled in Syria and Egypt some eight years before Burckhardt.

Lewis, Norman N., “The Anger of Lady Hester Stanhope: Some Letters of Lady Hester, John Lewis Burkhardt and William John Banks” in Travellers in the Levant: Voyagers and Visionaries, edited bySarah Searight and Malcolm Wagstaff, Durham: ASTENE, 2001

The author describes Burckhardt’s encounter with Lady Hester Stanhope and its unfortunate consequence.

Manley, Deborah and Peta Rée, Henry Salt: Artist, Traveller, Diplomat, Egyptologist, London:Libri, 2001

The authors present much material on Burckhardt’s activities in Egypt.

Sim, Katharine, Desert Traveller: The Life of Jean Louis Burckhardt, London: Gollancz, 1969

The author summarizes the life and travels of Burckhardt, and emphasizes adventure and romance rather than evaluates his achievements.

Turner, William, A Journal of a Tour in the Levant, 3 vols, London: John Murray, 1820

The author reports (vols 2 and 3) his meetings with Burckhardt in Egypt during 1815.


Burma (Myanmar)

Travel Writing

Abbott, Gerry, Inroads into Burma: A Travellers’ Anthology, 1997

Writings drawn from travellers’ accounts covering almost four centuries of Burmese history.

Adamson, C.H.E., Narrative of an Official Visit to the King of Burmah, in March 1865, from Notes Made at that Time,  1878

The author was sent to Mandalay to present a letter announcing the diplomatic mission by Sir Douglas Forsythe.

Anderson, John, Mandalay to Momien: A Narrative of the Two Expeditions to Western China of 1865 and 1875 under Colonel Edward B. Sladen and Colonel Horace Browne, 1876

Anonymous [Colesworthey Grant], Rough Pencillings of a Rough Trip to Rangoon in 1846, Calcutta:  1853

The artist Grant’s journal and lithographic sketches.

Bowers, Alexander, Bhamo Expedition: Report on the Practicability of Re-opening the Trade Route Between Burmah and Western China, 1869

An account by a member of Colonel Edward B. Sladen’s expedition of 1868.

Bradley, John, A Narrative of Sport and Travel in Burmah, Siam and the Malay Peninsula, 1876

Burn Murdoch, William G., From Edinburgh to India & Burmah, 1908

Journey undertaken 1905[-]06.

Coates, Austin, Invitation to an Eastern Feast, 1953

Colquhoun, A.R. and H.S. Hallett, Report on the Railway Connexion of Burmah and China: With Account of Exploration-Survey, 1888

An account of attempts to open up communications between Burma and China.

Curle, Richard, Into the East: Notes on Burma and Malaya, with a preface by Joseph Conrad, 1923

Travelogue of a five-month journey

Dufferin and Ava, Hariot Georgina Blackwood, Marchioness of, Our Viceregal Life in India: Selections from My Journal, 1884[-]1888, 2 vols, 1889; new edition, 1890

Edmonds, Paul, Peacocks and Pagodas, 1924

Includes many black and white illustrations.

Enriquez, Colin Metcalf Dallas, A Burmese Enchantment, 1916

Life in Upper Burma and travel in the frontier districts, concentrating especially on Buddhism.

Falla, Jonathan, True Love and Bartholomew: Rebels on the Burmese Border, 1991

Account of a year spent with the Karen in their rebel enclave of Kawtulay.

Gascoigne, Gwendolen Trench, Among Pagodas and Fair Ladies: An Account of a Tour through Burma, 1896

Includes sketches and photos.

Geary, Grattan, Burma after the Conquest,Viewed in Its Political, Social and Commercial Aspects, from Mandalay, 1886

Gill, William John, The River of Golden Sand: Being the Narrative of a Journey through China and Eastern Tibet to Burmah, with an introduction by Henry Yule, 2 vols, 1880

A survey of land and river routes performed 1876[-]77.

Gordon, Charles Alexander, Our Trip to Burmah: With Notes on That Country, 1876

Travel diary of an army surgeon-general between 23 December 24, 1874 and February 23, 1875. Includes sketches and woodcuts of Burmese games and scenes and some good photographs.

Guerreiro, Fernão, Jahangir and the Jesuits: With an Account of the Travels of Benedict Goes and the Mission to Pegu from the Relations of Father Fernão Guerreiro, S.J., translated by C.H. Payne, 1930

Hallett, Holt S., A Thousand Miles on an Elephant in the Shan States, 1890

Hart, Mrs Ernest, Picturesque Burma: Past and Present, 1897

Includes more than 100 illustrations.

Hunter, William, A Concise Account of the Kingdom of Pegu, Its Climate, Produce, Trade and Government: The Manners and Customs of Its Inhabitants, Interspersed with Remarks Moral and Political, 1785

Kelly, R. Talbot, Burma Painted and Described, 1905

Includes reproductions of 75 of the author’s watercolors.

Kessel, Joseph Elie, La Vallée des rubis, 1956; as Mogok: The Valley of Rubies, translated by Stella Rodway, 1960

Tales of the ruby mines of Mogok.

Kington, Miles, “The Burma Road”  in Great Journeys by Philip Jones Griffiths et al.,   1989

Chronicle of research for the BBC television programme.

Lach, Donald F., Southeast Asia in the Eyes of Europe: The Sixteenth Century, 1965

Includes ten accounts of Burma.

Leicester, C.M., A Holiday in Burma: With a Chapter on a Visit to Calcutta, 1928

Travel by boat and by train 1926[-]27.

Lewis, Norman, Golden Earth: Travels in Burma, 1952; reprinted, 1983

Lintner, Bertil, Land of Jade: A Journey through Insurgent Burma, 1990; revised edition, 1996

Malcom, Howard, Travels in the Burman Empire, 1840

Account of a journey exploring missionary possibilities.

Manrique, Sebastião, Itinerário de las Missiones de l’India Oriental, 1649; edited by Luis Silviera, 1946; as Travels of Fray Sebastien Manrique, 1629[-]1643, 2 vols, 1927; reprinted, 1967

Marshall, Andrew, The Trouser People: Colonial Shadows in Modern-Day Burma, 2002

Maugham, W. Somerset, The Gentleman in the Parlour: A Record of a Journey from Rangoon to Haiphong, 1930

Metford, Beatrix, Where China Meets Burma: Life and Travels in the Burma-China Border Lands, 1935

Descriptions and photographs of hill peoples.

Mitton, G.E., A Bachelor Girl in Burma, 1907

O’Connor, V.C. Scott, The Silken East: A Record of Life and Travel in Burma, 2 vols, 1904; 2nd edition, 1928

Life and travel in Burma during 1890s.

Orwell, George, Burmese Days: A Novel, 1934

Pinto, Fernão Mendes, Peregrinação, 1614; as The Travels of Mendes Pinto, edited and translated by Rebecca D. Catz, 1989

Polo, Marco, The Book of Ser Marco Polo, edited and translated by Henry Yule, 2 vols, 1871; 3rd edition, revised by Henri Cordier, 1903; as Marco Polo:  The Description of the World, edited and translated by A.C. Moule and Paul Pelliot, 2 vols, 1938, reprinted, 1976; also as The Travels of Marco Polo, translated by Ronald Latham, 1958

Raven-Hart, Rowland, Canoe to Mandalay, 1939

Errant canoist on the Nile and Mississippi adds the Irrawaddy to his list.

Roux, Émile, Aux source de l’Irraouddi: d’Hanoi à Calcutta par terre, 1897; as Searching for the Sources of the Irrawaddy. With Prince Henri d’Orleans from Hanoi to Calcutta Overland, translated and with an introduction by Walter E.J. Tips, 1999

Scott, James George, The Burman: His Life and Notions by Shway Yoe, 2 vols, 1882

Shaplen, Robert, A Turning Wheel: Three Decades of the Asian Revolution as Witnessed by a Correspondent for The New Yorker, 1979

Burma in the period 1962[-]78 is covered on pages 119[-]41.

Smith, Nicol, Burma Road: The Story of the World’s Most Romantic Highway, 1940

A good eyewitness account of an American’s car journey from Kunming to Lashio before World War II.

Stanford, J.K., Far Ridges: A Record of Travel in North-Eastern Burma 1938[-]39, 1946

Account of a scientific expedition.

Theroux, Paul, The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train through Asia, 1975

Tucker, Shelby, Among Insurgents: Walking through Burma, 2000

Vincent, Frank, The Land of the White Elephant: Sights and Scenes in South-Eastern Asia: A Personal Narrative of Travel and Adventure in Farther India Embracing the Countries of Burma, Siam, Cambodia, and Cochin-China (1871[-]2), 1873; with an introduction by William L. Bradley, 1988

The first 87 pages relate to Burma.

Ward, Frank Kingdon, In Farthest Burma: The Record of an Arduous Journey of Exploration and Research through the Unknown Frontier Territory of Burma and Tibet, 1921

The author made a number of plant-collecting expeditions to Burma over a 40-year period from 1914.

Ward, Frank Kingdon, Burma’s Icy Mountains, 1949

Ward, Frank Kingdon, Return to the Irrawaddy, 1956

Wheeler, J. Talboys, Journal of a Voyage up the Irrawaddy to Mandalay and Bhamo, 1871

Chronicle of a journey taken between November 6 and December 19, 1870.

Williams, Clement, Through Burma to Western China: Being Notes of a Journey in 1863 to Establish the Practicability of a Trade-route Between the Irawaddi and the Yang-tse-kiang, 1868

Williams was the first British political agent at Mandalay.

Wills, Arthur Winkler, Sunny Days in Burma, 1905

Includes 100 black and white photos by the author.

Younghusband, G.J. Eighteen Hundred Miles on a Burmese Tat: Through Burmah, Siam, and the Eastern Shan States, 1888

Account of a journey over six months taken on horseback.

Yule, Henry, A Narrative of the Mission Sent by the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava in 1855, 1858

Further Reading

Aung San Suu Kyi et al., Freedom from Fear, and Other Writings, edited by Michael Aris, with a foreword by Václav Havel, London: Viking and New York: Penguin, 1991; revised edition with a foreword by Desmond Tutu, New York: Penguin, 1995

Collis, Maurice, The Grand Peregrination: Being the Life and Adventures of Fernão Mendes Pinto, London: Faber, 1949; new edition, Manchester: Carcanet, 1990

Collis, Maurice, The Land of the Great Image: Being Experiences of Friar Manrique in Arakan, London: Faber, and New York: Knopf, 1943; 2nd edition, 1953

Collis, Maurice, Lords of the Sunset: A Tour in the Shan States, London: Faber, and New York: Dodd Mead, 1938

An account of the Shan hereditary rulers.

Collis, Maurice, Marco Polo, London: Faber, 1950; 2nd edition, 1959

Includes an account of Marco Polo’s time in Southeast Asia.

Edwardes, Michael, Ralph Fitch: Elizabethan in the Indies, London: Faber, 1972

Contains an account of Fitch’s travels in Southeast Asia.

Lintner, Bertil, Outrage: Burma’s Struggle for Democracy, Hong Kong: Review Publishing, 1989; 2nd edn London: White Lotus, 1990


Alexander Burnes 1805[-]1841

British colonial officer and traveller

Travel Writing

Travels into Bokhara: Being the Account of a Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary and Persia in the Years 1831, 1832 and 1833; also Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus, 3 vols, 1834; with an introduction by James Lunt, 1973

Cabool: A Personal Narrative of a Journey to, and Residence in That City: In the Years 1836, 1837, 1838, 1842

“Memoir on the Eastern Branch of the River Indus, giving an Account of the Alterations produced on it by an Earthquake, also a Theory of the formation of the Runn, and some Conjectures on the Route of Alexander the Great; drawn up in the years 1827[-]1828”, Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 3 (1835): 550[-]88

 “On the Siah Posh Kafirs, with Specimens of Their Language and Costume”, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 7 (1838): 325[-]33; and other articles in this journal

Further Reading

A.J.A[rbuthnot], entry on Burnes in Dictionary of National Biography, 7, London: Smith Elder, 1886

Buckland, Charles Edward, Dictionary of Indian Biography, London: Sonnenschein, 1906; reprinted, Varanasi and Delhi: Indological Book House, 1971

Eyriès, J.B., Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 95 (1842): 5[-]55

Lunt, James, Bokhara Burnes, London: Faber, and New York: Barnes and Noble, 1969


Richard F. Burton 1821[-]1890

British explorer, diplomat, and translator

Travel Writing

Goa and the Blue Mountains; or, Six Months of Sick Leave, 1851

Scinde; or, The Unhappy Valley, 2 vols, 1851

Sindh, and the Races that Inhabit the Valley of the Indus; and with Notices of the Topography and History of the Province, 1851

Falconry in the Valley of the Indus, 1852

Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah, 3 vols, 1855[-]56

First Footsteps in East Africa; or, An Exploration of Harar, 1856

The Lake Regions of Central Africa, A Picture of Exploration, 2 vols, 1860

The City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to California, 1861; as The Look of the West, 1860: Across the Plains to California, 1963

Abeokuta and the Camaroons Mountains: An Exploration, 2 vols, 1863

Wanderings in West Africa, from Liverpool to Fernando Po, 2 vols, 1863

A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome, with Notices of the So-called “Amazons”, the Grand Customs, the Yearly Customs, the Human Sacrifices, the Present State of the Slave Trade, and the Negro’s Place in Nature, 2 vols, 1864

The Nile Basin, part 1: Showing Tanganyika to Be Ptolemy’s Western Lake Reservoir: A Memoir Read before the Royal Geographical Society, November 14, 1864; part 2: Captain Speke’s Discovery of the Source of the Nile: A Review (part 2 by James M’Queen), 1864

Wit and Wisdom from West Africa; or, A Book of Proverbial Philosophy, Idioms, Enigmas and Laconisms, compiled by Burton, 1865

The Guide-Book: A Pictorial Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, 1865

Explorations of the Highlands of Brazil; with a Full Account of the Gold and Diamond Mines. Also, Canoeing Down 1500 Miles of the Great River São Francisco, from Sabará to the Sea, 2 vols, 1869

Letters from the Battlefields of Paraguay, 1870

Unexplored Syria: Visits to the Libanus, the Tulul el Safá, the Anti-Libanus, the Northern Libanus, and the ‘Aláh, with Charles F. Tyrwhitt-Drake, 2 vols, 1872

Zanzibar; City, Island, and Coast, 2 vols, 1872

Ultima Thule; or, A Summer in Iceland, 2 vols, 1875

Etruscan Bologna: A Study, 1876

Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo, 2 vols, 1876

Scind Revisited: with Notices of the Anglo-Indian Army; Railroads, Past, Present and Future, etc., 2 vols, 1877

The Gold Mines of Midian and the Ruined Midianite Cities: A Fortnight’s Tour in North-Western Arabia, 1878

The Land of Midian (Revisited), 2 vols, 1879

To the Gold Coast for Gold: A Personal Narrative, 1883

Wanderings in Three Continents, edited by W.H. Wilkins, 1901

Further Reading

Brodie, Fawn M., The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir Richard Burton, New York: Norton, and London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1967

A psychological study of Burton, his life and works.

Burne, Glenn S., Richard F. Burton, Boston: Twayne, 1985

A general introduction to Burton’s life and works.

Burton, Isabel, The Life of Captain Sir Richad F. Burton, edited by W.H. Wilkins, 2 vols, London: Chapman and Hall, 1893

The highly subjective biography written by Burton’s wife after his death.

Garrett, Greg, “Relocating Burton: Public and Private Writings on Africa”, Journal of African Travel-Writing, 2 (Spring 1997): 70[-]79

An attempt to reclaim Burton’s complexity from the simplifications of contemporary scholarship and popular culture.

Lacerda e Almeida, Francisco José Maria de, The Lands of Cazembe: Lacerda’s Journey to Cazembe in 1798, translated and annotated by Burton, London: John Murray, 1873

Leared, Arthur, Marocco and the Moors: Being an Account of Travels, with a General Description of the Country and Its People, 2nd edition revised and edited by Burton, London: Low Marston Searle, and New York: Scribner and Welford, 1891

Marcy, B. Randolph, The Prairie Traveler: A Hand-Book for Overland Expeditions, with Illustrations and Itineraries of the Principal Routes between the Mississippi and the Pacific, and a Map, edited with notes by Burton, London: Tübner, 1863

Rice, Edward, Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, New York: Scribner, 1990

A very readable recent biography.


Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq (c.1520[-]1591)

Flemish diplomat

Travel Writing

Augerii Gislenii Busbequii D. legationis Turcicae Epistolae quatuor, 1589

There were many 17th- and 18th-century editions deriving directly or indirectly from the 1589 Paris edition. The most recent reprint is of the 1740 Basle edition with a preface by Rudolph Neck: Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq, Omnia quae extant opera, Graz: Akademische Druck- 1 und Verlagsanstalt, 1968.

The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq: Seigneur of Bousbeque, Knight, Imperial Ambassador, 2 vols, edited and translated by Charles Thornton Forster and F.H. Blackburne Daniell, 1881

Remains the best English edition, though now completely outdated. Volume 1 contains the “Turkish Letters”, volume 2 a selection of Busbecq’s correspondence with Emperor Maximilian II (37 letters) and Rudolph II (58 letters).

The Turkish Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Imperial Ambassador at Constantinople 1554[-]1562, translated by Edward Seymour Forster, 1927; reprinted, 1968

Ogier Ghiselin van Boesbeeck: Vier brieven over het gezantschap naar Turkije, edited by Zweder von Martels, 1994

The best edition of the “Turkish Letters” currently available, with the Latin original and a parallel Dutch translation by Michel Goldstein. With English summary of the introduction (pp. xlix[-]lii).

Further Reading

Fischer, Erik, Melchior Lorck i Tyrkiet (exhibition catalogue), Copenhagen: Statens Museum for Kunst, 1990

Reproduces contemporary illustrations, made by one of Busbecq’s companions in Turkey.

Martels, Zweder von, “Augerius Gislenius Busbequius: Leven en werk van de keizerlijke gezant aan het hof van Süleyman de Grote: een biografische, literarie en historische studie met editie van onvitgegeven teksten” (dissertation), Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 1989

A groundbreaking new study of Busbecq’s life and work, based partly on previously unpublished material, including nearly 470 letters by Busbecq to the emperors, various officials and friends. Superseding all previous biographies, this must be the starting point of all future work. With English summary of the introduction (cols 549[-]58).

Martels, Zweder von, “Verità e finzione nelle ‘epistolae turcicae’ di Augerius Busbequius”, Res Publica Litteraria, 12 (1989): 115[-]21

Martels, Zweder von, “The Discovery of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti”, Res Publica Litteraria, 14 (1991): 147[-]56

Rousseau, André (editor), Sur les Traces de Busbecq et du Gotique, Lille: Presses Universitaires de Lille, 1991

Scardigli, Piergiuseppe, Lingua e storia dei Goti, Florence: Sansoni, 1964

Stearns, MacDonald, Crimean Gothic: Analysis and Etymology of the Corpus, Saratoga, California: Anma Libri, 1978

Vasiliev, Alexander Alexandrovich, The Goths in the Crimea, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Medieval Academy of America, 1936

Waele, F.J. de et al. (editors), Augerius Gislenus Busbequius, 1522[-]1591: Vlaams humanist en keizerlijk gezant. Hulde bij het vierde eeuwfeest van het begin van zijn gezantschap in het Oosten, 1554[-]1954, Brussels: Paleis der Academien, 1955


Buses and Coaches

Travel Writing

Horne, Jon, Lying about America, Sittingbourne: Heartland, 1995

Kurtz, Irma, The Great American Bus Ride, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993, London: Fourth Estate, 1994

Leather, Gertrude, Home with the Heather: by bus from London to John o’Groats, London: Ian Allan, 1986

Marnham, Patrick, So Far from God: A Journey to Central America, 1985

Steinbeck, John, The Wayward Bus, 1947

West, Gordon, By Bus to the Sahara, London: Travel Book Club, 1939, London: Black Swan, 1996

Williams, Hugo, No Particular Place to Go, London: Jonathan Cape, 1981

Travels by Greyhound bus around America in 1975.


Richard Evelyn
Byrd 1888[-]1957

American polar explorer, aviator, and scientist

Travel Writing

Skyward: Man’s Mastery of the Air as Shown by the Brilliant Flights of America’s Leading Air Explorer, 1928

Little America: Aerial Exploration in the Antarctic; the Flight to the South Pole, 1930

My Flight to the North Pole, edited by Alfred Hoschke, 1933

Discovery: The Story of the Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition, introduction by Claude A. Swanson, 1935; as Antarctic Discovery, 1936

Alone, 1938

To the Pole: The Diary and Notebook of Richard E. Byrd, 1925[-]1927, edited by Raimund E. Goerler, 1998

Further Reading

Miller, Francis Trevelyan, The Fight to Conquer the Ends of the Earth: Byrd’s Great Adventure, with the Complete Story of All Polar Explorations for One Thousand Years, Philadelphia: Winston, 1930; as Byrd’s Great Adventure, London: Stanley Paul, 1930

Murphy, Charles J.V., Struggle: The Life and Exploits of Commander Richard E. Byrd, New York: Stokes, 1928

Rose, Lisle A., Assault on Eternity: Richard E. Byrd and the Exploration of Antarctica, 1946[-]47, Anapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1980


William
Byrd 1674[-]1744

Virginia planter-legislator and travel writer

Travel Writing (dates of composition; unpublished in Byrd’s lifetime)

London Diary, 13 December 1717[-]19 May 1721; in The London Diary, 1717[-]1721, and Other Writings, edited by Louis B. Wright and Marion Tinling, 1958

The History of the Dividing Line betwixt Virginia and North Carolina, 1728; published in The Westover Manuscripts, 1841

The Secret History of the Line, 1728; in William Byrd’s Histories of the Dividing Line betwixt Virginia and North Carolina, edited by William K. Boyd, 1929; reprinted as Histories of the Dividing Line betwixt Virginia and North Carolina, with a new introduction by Percy G. Adams, 1967

A Progress to the Mines, 1732; published in The Westover Manuscripts, 1841

A Journey to the Land of Eden, 1733; published in The Westover Manuscripts, 1841

A Journey to the Land of Eden and Other Papers by William Byrd, edited by Mark Van Doren, 1928

The Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover, 1709[-]1712, edited by Louis B. Wright and Marion Tinling, 1941

Another Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover, 1739[-]1741, edited by Maude H. Woodfin and Marion Tinling, 1942

Further Reading

Beatty, Richmond Croom, William Byrd of Westover, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1932; with a new preface and bibliography by M. Thomas Inge, Hamden, Connecticut: Archon, 1970

Cutting, Rose Marie, John and William Bartram, William Byrd II, and St John de Crèvecoeur: A Reference Guide, Boston: G.K. Hall, 1976

Hayes, Kevin J., The Library of William Byrd of Westover, Madison, Wisconsin: Madison House, 1997

Lockridge, Kenneth A., The Diary and Life of William Byrd II of Virginia, 1674[-]1744, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987

Marambaud, Pierre, William Byrd of Westover, 1674[-]1744, Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1971

Percival, John, The English Travels of Sir John Percival and William Byrd II: The Percival Diary of 1701, edited by Mark R. Wenger, Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1989

Pritchard, Margaret Beck and Virginia Lascara Sites, William Byrd II and His Lost History: Engravings of the Americas, Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1993

Tinling, Marion (editor), The Correspondence of the Three William Byrds of Westover, Virginia, 1684[-]1776, vols 1[-]2, Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1977


George Gordon, Lord Byron 1788[-]1824

British poet and dramatist

Poetry

Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, 1812[-]18; complete edition, 1819

The Giaour: A Fragment of a Turkish Tale, 1813

The Bride of Abydos: A Turkish Tale, 1813

The Corsair: A Tale, 1814

Lara: A Tale, 1814

The Siege of Corinth; Parisina, 1816

The Prisoner of Chillon and Other Poems, 1816

Beppo: A Venetian Story, 1818; revised edition, 1818

Don Juan, 1819[-]24; complete edition, 1826

Further Reading

Borst, William Alvord, Lord Byron’s First Pilgrimage, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1948

Precise and detailed account of Byron’s early travels.

Buzard, James, “The Uses of Romanticism: Byron and the Victorian Continental Tour”, Victorian Studies, 35/1 (Autumn 1991): 29[-]49

Buzard, James, “Being Byron” in his The Beaten Track: European Tourism, Literature, and the Ways to Culture, 1800[-]1918, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1993

Byron, George Gordon, Lord, The Complete Poetical Works, edited by Jerome J. McGann, 7 vols, Oxford: Clarendon Press, and New York: Oxford University Press, 1980[-]93

Byron, George Gordon, Lord, The Complete Miscellaneous Prose, edited by Andrew Nicholson, Oxford: Clarendon Press, and New York: Oxford University Press, 1991

Hobhouse, J.C. A Journey through Albania and Other Provinces of Turkey in Europe and Asia, to Constantinople, during the Years 1809 and 1810, 2 vols, London: Cawthorn, 1813; Philadelphia: M. Carey, 1817; New York: Arno Press, 1971

Marchand, Leslie A., Byron: A Biography, 3 vols, London: John Murray, and New York: Knopf, 1957

Still the best biography.

Marchand, Leslie A. (editor), Byron’s Letters and Journals: The Complete and Unexpurgated Text, 13 vols, London: John Murray, and Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1973[-]94

Massie, Allan, Byron’s Travels, London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1988

Minta, Stephen, On a Voiceless Shore: Byron in Greece, New York: Holt, 1998

Porter, Dennis, Haunted Journeys: Desire and Transgression in European Travel Writing, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1991

Purkis, John, “Childe Harold Ventures Forth” in his The World of the English Romantic Poets: A Visual Approach, London: Heinemann, 1982

Thomas, Gordon Kent, Lord Byron’s Iberian Pilgrimage, Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1983


Robert Byron 1905[-]1941

British writer and art and architectural critic

Travel Writing

Europe in the Looking-Glass: Reflections of a Motor Drive from Grimsby to Athens, 1926

The Station: Athos, Treasures and Men, 1928

The Byzantine Achievement: An Historical Perspective, a.d. 330[-]1453, 1929; reprinted, 1987

The Birth of Western Painting: A History of Colour, Form and Iconography, by Byron and David Talbot Rice, 1930

An Essay on India, 1931

The Appreciation of Architecture, 1932

First Russia, Then Tibet, 1933; reprinted, 1985

Innocence & Design, (a parodic novel based on their travels in Oxiana) by Byron and Christopher Sykes, as Richard Waughburton, 1935

Shell Guide to Wiltshire, 1935

The Road to Oxiana, 1937

Imperial Pilgrimage, 1937

Further Reading

Chatwin, Bruce, Introduction to The Road to Oxiana, London: Picador, 1981

Coyle, Martin, entry on Robert Byron in British Travel Writers, 1910[-]1939, edited by Barbara Brothers and Julia M. Gergits, Detroit: Gale, 1998 (Dictionary of Literary Biography, vol. 195)

Fussell, Paul, “Sancte Roberte, Ora Pro Nobis” in his Abroad: British Literary Traveling between the Wars, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980

Fussell, Paul, Introduction to The Road to Oxiana, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982

Fussell, Paul, “Stubborn, Self-taught Byzantinist”, Times Literary Supplement, (12 April 1991): 20

Gaunt, William, review of The Birth of Western Painting, Atelier 1, (April 1931): 377

Irwin, Robert, “Open to the Infidel”, review of the Courtauld Institute Galleries exhibition Along the Golden Road to Samarkand: Photographs of Monuments in the Middle-East by A.W. Lawrence, T.E. Lawrence, and Robert Byron, Times Literary Supplement, (21 February 1922): 19

Rice, David Talbot, introduction to The Road to Oxiana, London: John Lehmann, 1950

Sitwell, Sacheverell, review of The Road to Oxiana, Architectural Review, 52 (January 1937): 33[-]34

Sykes, Christopher, “Robert Byron” in his Four Studies in Loyalty, London: Collins, 1947

Sykes, Christopher, introduction to The Station: Athos, Treasures and Men, New York: Knopf, and London: Lehmann, 1949

Sykes, Christopher, entry on Robert Byron in Dictionary of National Biography 1941[-]1950, edited by L.G. Wickham Legg and E.T. Williams, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951

Young, G.M., “Cities and Harvests” in his Daylight and Champaign: Essays, London: Jonathan Cape, 1937; Folcroft, Pennsylvania: Folcroft Editions, 1978

Young, G.M., “Robert Byron” in his Today and Yesterday: Collected Essays and Addresses, London: Hart-Davis, 1948; Norwood, Pennsylvania: Norwood Editions, 1978


Byzantium

Travel Writing

Blöndal, Sigfus, The Varangians of Byzantium: An Aspect of Byzantine Military History, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978

Ciggaar, Krijnie, “Une description de Constantinople du XIIe siècle”, Revue des Études Byzantines, 31 (1973): 335[-]54

Ciggaar, Krijnie, “Une description de Constantinople traduite par un pèlerin anglais du XIIe siècle”, Revue des Études Byzantines, 34 (1976): 211[-]67

Comnena, Anna, The Alexiad, translated by E.R.A. Sewter, 1969

Constantine Porphyrogenitus (Emperor), De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae libri duo, edited by Johann Jacob Reiske, 2 vols, 1829[-]30; as Le Livre des cérémonies, edited and translated by Albert Vogt, 4 vols, 1935[-]40

Constantine Porphyrogenitus (Emperor), De administrando imperio, edited by Gyula Moravcski and translated by R.J.H. Jenkins, 1967

Liudprand of Cremona, The Works of Liudprand of Cremona, translated by F.A. Wright, 1930; as The Embassy to Constantinople and Other Writings, 1993

Odo of Deuil, De profectione Ludovici VII in orientem / The Journey of Louis VII to the East, edited and translated by Virginia Gingerick Berry, 1948

Further Reading

Angold, Michael, The Byzantine Empire 1025[-]1204, London and New York: Longman, 1984; 2nd edition, 1997

Baker, Derek (editor), Relations between East and West in the Middle Ages, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1973

Benjamin of Tudela, The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, edited and translated by Marcus Nathan Adler, 1907; with an introduction by Michael A. Signer, 1983

Brand, Charles M., Byzantium Confronts the West, 1180[-]1204, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1968

Cahen, Claude, Pre-Ottoman Turkey: A General Survey of the Material and Spiritual Culture and History, c.1071[-]1330, translated by J. Jones-Williams, London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1968

Cameron, Averil and Judith Herrin (editors), Constantinople in the Early 8th Century, Leiden: Brill, 1984

Ciggaar, Krijnie N., Western Travellers to Constantinople: The West and Byzantium, 962[-]1204, Leiden: Brill, 1996

Frankopan, Peter, “Levels of Contact between West and East: Pilgrims and Visitors to Constantinople and Jerusalem in the 9th[-]12th Centuries” in Travellers in the Levant: Voyagers and Visionaries, edited by Sarah Searight and Malcolm Wagstaff, Durham: ASTENE, 2001

Freely, John, Istanbul: The Imperial City, London and New York: Viking, 1996

Freshfield, Edwin Hanson (editor and translator), Roman Law in the Later Roman Empire … from The Book of the Eparch, translated by Edwin Hanson Freshfield, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1938

Geanakoplos, Deno J., Byzantine East and Latin West: Two Worlds of Christendom in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Oxford: Blackwell, and New York: Harper and Row, 1966

Gibbon, Edward, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, edited by J.B. Bury, 7 vols, London: Methuen, 1909[-]14

Harris, Jonathan P., Greek Emigres in the West, 1400[-]1520, Camberley, Surrey: Porphyrogenitus, 1995

Howard-Johnston, James J.D. (editor), Byzantium and the West, c.850[-]c.1200, Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1988

Janin, R., La Géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, Paris: Institut Français d’Études Byzantines, 1953

Laiou, Angeliki E., Constantinople and the Latins: The Foreign Policy of Andronicus II, 1282[-]1328, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1972

Lounghis, T.C., Les Ambassades Byzantines en Occident depuis la fondation des états barbares jusqu’aux Croisades (407[-]1096), Athens: Lounghis, 1980

McCormick, Michael, Eternal Victory: Triumphal Rulership in Late Antiquity, Byzantium and the Early Medieval West, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987

Mango, Cyril, Byzantium: The Empire of New Rome, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, and New York: Scribner, 1980

Mango, Cyril, Byzantium and Its Image: History and Culture of the Byzantine Empire and Its Heritage, London: Variorum, 1984

Nicol, Donald M., Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988

Nicol, Donald M., The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261[-]1453, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993

Ostrogorsky, George, History of the Byzantine State, translated by Joan Hussey, Oxford: Blackwell, 1956

Runciman, Steven, A History of the Crusades, 3 vols, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1951[-]54

Sharf, Andrew, Byzantine Jewry from Justinian to the Fourth Crusade, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, and New York: Schocken, 1971

Whittow, Mark, The Making of Orthodox Byzantium, 600[-]1025, London: Macmillan, 1996

Van Millingen, Alexander, Byzantine Constantinople: The Walls of the City and Adjoining Historical Sites, London: John Murray, 1899

Vavřírinek, Vladimiŕ (editor), Byzantium and Its Neighbours from the mid-9th till the 12th Centuries, Prague, 1993

Weitzman, Kurt, “Various Aspects of Byzantine Influence on the Latin Countries from the 6th[-]12th Centuries”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 20 (1966): 3[-]24

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