Ever since Roman tourists scratched graffiti on the pyramids and temples of Egypt over two thousand years ago, people have travelled far and wide seeking the great wonders of antiquity. In From Stonehenge to Samarkand, noted archaeologist and popular writer Brian Fagan offers an engaging historical account of our enduring love of ancient architecture-the irresistible impulse to visit strange lands in search of lost cities and forgotten monuments. Here is a marvellous history of archaeological tourism, with generous excerpts from the writings of the tourists themselves. Readers will find Herodotus describing the construction of Babylon; Edward Gibbon receiving inspiration for his seminal work while wandering through the ruins of the Forum in Rome; Gustave Flaubert watching the sunrise from atop the Pyramid of Cheops. We visit Easter Island with Pierre Loti, Machu Picchu with Hiram Bingham, Central Africa with David Livingstone. Fagan describes the early antiquarians, consumed with a passionate and omnivorous curiosity, pondering the mysteries of Stonehenge, but he also considers some of the less reputable figures, such as the Earl of Elgin, who sold large parts of the Parthenon to the British Museum. Finally, he discusses the changing nature of archaeological tourism, from the early romantic wanderings of the solitary figure, communing with the departed spirits of Druids or Mayans, to the cruise-ship excursions of modern times, where masses of tourists are hustled through ruins, barely aware of their surroundings. From the Holy Land to the Silk Road, the Yucatan to Angkor Wat, Fagan follows in the footsteps of the great archaeological travellers to retrieve their first written impressions in a book that will delight anyone fascinated with the landmarks of ancient civilization.

Isobel Wylie Hutchison was many things: a botanist, traveller, poet and artist. She travelled solo throughout the arctic collecting plant samples, wrote and published extensive volumes of essays and poetry, and was - in short - one of the most remarkable Scottish figures of her time. However, since her death in 1982 her legacy has been forgotten compared with her male counterparts. Now Isobel can speak for herself again. While better known for her solo journeys across the Arctic, these essays detail Isobel's journeys across Scotland, including visits to Skye, John O' Groats and the various literary shrines across the country. Written with characteristic wit and a keen interest in both science and myth and folklore, the essays serve as important cultural markers not just of Scotland as it was and has developed, but of a woman's experience of travelling alone and a testament to the importance of cultural connection, exploration and communication.

One morning Carolina wakes up, determined to change something in her life. She has had enough of living her monotonous daily routine and craves something else, something unusual. How about a trip around the world? Her adventure takes her to the Middle East, Africa and Oceania. During her travels she encounters endangered mountain gorillas, walks with wild lions, and flirts with adrenaline boosting activities like bungee jumping. But what does this experience bring her spiritually?

A facsimile edition of Bradshaw's fascinating guide to Europe's rail network. Bradshaw's descriptive railway handbook of Europe was originally published in 1913 and was the inspiration behind Michael Portillo's BBC television series 'Great Continental Railway Journeys'. It is divided into three sections: timetables for services covering the continent; short guides to the best places to see and to stay in each city; and a wealth of advertisements and ephemeral materials concerning hotels, restaurants and services that might be required by the early twentieth century rail traveller. This beautifully illustrated facsimile edition offers a fascinating glimpse of Europe and of a transport network that was shortly devastated by the greatest war the world had ever seen.

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

In 1909, while dreaming of the Himalaya, Norwegian mountaineer Alf Bonnevie Bryn and a fellow young climber, the Australian George Ingle Finch, set their sights on Corsica to build their experience. The events of this memorable trip form the basis of Bryn's acclaimed book Tinder og banditter - 'Peaks and Bandits', with their boisterous exploits delighting Norwegian readers for generations. Newly translated by Bibbi Lee, this classic of Norwegian literature is available for the first time in English. Although Bryn would go on to become a respected mountaineer and author, and Finch would become regarded as one of the greatest mountaineers of all time - a legend of the 1922 Everest expedition - Peaks and Bandits captures them on the cusp of these achievements: simply two students taking advantage of their Easter holidays, their escapades driven by their passion for climbing. As they find themselves in unexpected and often strange places, Bryn's sharp and jubilant narrative epitomises travel writing at its best. Balancing its wit with fascinating insight into life in early twentieth-century Corsica, the infectious enthusiasm of Bryn's narrative has cemented it as one of Norway's most treasured adventure books. Peaks and Bandits embodies the timeless joy of adventure.

Explore the landscapes and places that inspired great art: find peace in Monet's lily-filled garden oasis, climb Mount Fuji on a printmaker's pilgrimage, sail with Gauguin to the South Pacific to stretch your imagination, or contemplate light and the changing seasons on Chelsea Embankment. Artistic Places is a stunningly hand-illustrated, visionary guide for seekers of beauty, rare tales and cultural riches. Find yourself instantly transported to the places where great artists have sought refuge, found their inspiration and changed the course of art history forever. Susie Hodge, bestselling author and art historian, presents 25 famous and forgotten artistic destinations around the world, and connects these to the artists they inspired. In keeping with the Inspired Traveller's Guide series design, each entry is accompanied by specially commissioned illustrations from Amy Grimes which perfectly evoke the wonders that first attracted the masters, while Hodge delves into each location's curious history with insightful stories both in and beyond the canon. So take a leaf out of your favourite artist's sketchbook and discover the places they loved best. Artists and locations include: J.A.M Whistler in London, England John Constable in Suffolk, England Barbara Hepworth in St Ives, England Paula Rego in Cascais and Estoril, Portugal Pablo Picasso and Guernica, Spain Salvador Dali in Catalonia, Spain Claude Monet in Giverny, France Vincent van Gogh in Arles, France Rene Magritte in Brussels, Belgium Paul Klee in Bern, Switzerland Michelangelo in Florence, Italy Canaletto in Venice, Italy Johannes Vermeer in Delft, Netherlands Anni Albers in Dessau, Germany Caspar David Friedrich in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, Germany Gustav Klimt and Lake Attersee, Austria Edvard Munch in Oslo, Norway Hilma af Klint and Lake Malaren, Sweden Henri Matisse in Tangier, Morocco Hokusai on Mount Fuji, Japan Paul Gauguin in Papeete and Papeari, Tahiti Jean-Michel Basquiat in New York, USA Grant Wood in Iowa, USA Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico, USA Frida Kahlo in Coyoacan, Mexico Each book in the Inspired Traveller's Guides series offers readers a fascinating, informative and charmingly illustrated guide to must-visit destinations round the globe. Also from this series, explore intriguing: Spiritual Places, Literary Places, Hidden Places and Mystical Places.

In 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. Peel Me a Lotus, the companion volume to Mermaid Singing relays their move to Hydra where they bought a house and grappled with the chaos of domestic life and three children whilst also becoming the centre of an informal community of artists and writers. The group later included Leonard Cohen who became their lodger and his girlfriend Marianne Ihlen. Clift paints an evocative picture of the characters and sun-drenched rhythms of traditional life, long before backpackers and mass tourism descended.

In 1878 a young man named William Pryer was sent to North Borneo (now Sabah) to 'establish' the British North Borneo Company there. In 1894 his wife Ada published her account of his early years as an administrator along with some sketches of their life together. The memoir has unique value both as a travel narrative in its own right and for understanding the international politics of the British takeover of North Borneo. The new edition will reproduce the text of the original 1894 edition, including an introductory essay as well as annotations to explain and contextualize references of historical and biographical significance.

The explorations of 18th-century travellers to the "European frontiers" were often geared to define the cultural, political and historical boundaries of "European civilization". In an age when political revolutions shocked nations into reassessing what separated the civilized from the barbaric, how did literary travellers contemplate the characteristics of their continental neighbours? Focusing on the writings of British travellers, we see how a new view of Europe was created, one that juxtaposed the customs and living conditions of populations in an attempt to define "modern" Europe against a "yet unenlightened" Europe.

Brunton's memoir opens a window on life and times in Meiji Japan from 1868 to 1876, a crucial period in that country's transformation from a medieval backwater into an efficient modern society. Schoolmaster to an Empire, the premier volume in Greenwood's newly initiated Asian Studies Series, provides a rare first-hand account of a nineteenth century English engineer and his key role in the epic-making technical developments of the time. Hired by the Japanese at the age of 27 as engineer in charge of a lighthouse project that would light the coast of Japan, Brunton embarked on a series of varied and adventurous experiences whose record is an enlightening case study of one yatoi, or hired foreign servant, in Japan. Because of the archaic technical level of old world Japan, Brunton the lighthouse builder was also compelled to design, build, and launch ships; build bridges and railways; drain swamps; and pave, drain, and light new settlements. His pages describing his inventive solutions to each new challenge make absorbing and sometimes amusing reading. Brunton's major contribution was probably the training of Japan's first modern mechanics and his insistence on the necessity of scientific training and preparation in a country where technical labor was despised and the skilled trades barely existed. Brunton emerges as a singular teacher not only of technological skills but also of the attitudes and mind set necessary to accomplish ambitious new tasks. This manuscript has been in the making for the last ninety years, according to editor/annotator Edward R. Beauchamp. Brunton completed his memoir shortly before his death in 1901, and it subsequently received the editorial attentions of three separate editors who were unsuccessful in publishing it. Beauchamp's conscientious efforts have restored the important but over-edited work as nearly as possible to Brunton's original language. The editor has retained and updated previous editors' useful annotations and incorporated additional notes to reflect new information and recently published materials bearing on the topics covered by Brunton. This final version is faithful both to Brunton's intent and the stylistic vagaries of the nineteenth century, while also containing updated materials. The 36-chapter volume is packed with fascinating details of the period, and it touches on subjects ranging from Building Iron Bridges and Women's Education in Japan to The Jealous Japanese. Here is an astounding portrait of Japan, the manufacturing giant, in its infancy. Schoolmaster to an Empire will appeal to general and specialist readers. It can also be used as a supplementary text in courses dealing with nineteenth century Japan and cross-cultural topics. Libraries, especially those with Asian interests, will find this a necessary addition.

One year after her successful trip across Glacier National Park with Howard Eaton, chronicled in Through Glacier Park, mystery novelist Mary Roberts Rinehart was back in the saddle, heading into the rugged Western portion of the park with her family and ready for more adventure. She wrote, looking at the daunting road ahead, "But all this was before us then. We only knew it was summer, that the days were warm and the nights cool, that the streams were full of trout, that such things as telegraphs and telephones were falling far in our rear, and that before us was the Big Adventure." Rinehart's humor and enthusiasm about her summer-long camping adventure through the Rocky Mountains and Cascades is full of the newness of the experience, the wonders of the relatively unexplored park, and the same wonders that inspire visitors today are still fresh for a modern audience. With a foreword by her grandson, Rick Rinehart, this edition is a classic to be enjoyed by a new generation.

From "Roughing it with the Men" to "Below the Border in Wartime" Mary Roberts Rinehart's The Out Trail features seven tales from her adventures in the West from fishing at Puget Sound to hiking the Bright Angel trail at the Grand Canyon. Though she was best known at the time for her mystery novels, Rinehart's travel writing, starting with her 1915 travels to the then young Glacier National Park, offers observations and insights into the fun and difficulties of early twentieth-century travel and her fellow travelers with humor and clarity of detail that makes them vivid for today's travelers.

"The lure of the high places is in your blood. The call of the mountains is a real call. The veneer, after all, is so thin. Throw off the impedimenta of civilization, the telephones, the silly conventions, the lies that pass for truth. Go out to the West. Ride slowly, not to startle the wild things. Throw out your chest and breathe; look across green valleys to wild peaks where mountain sheep stand impassive on the edge of space. Let the summer rains fall on your upturned face and wash away the memory of all that is false and petty and cruel. Then the mountains will get you. You will go back. The call is a real call." So wrote Mary Roberts Rinehart in her famous travelogue, Through Glacier Park, first published in 1916, as the already famous mystery writer introduced readers to recently minted national park and to the scenic wonders of Montana and to the adventures to be found there. Howard Eaton, an intrepid guide who had become known for his Yellowstone experience, had convinced Rinehart to make the trek to the West. Traveling three hundred miles on horseback with a group of more than forty assorted tourists of all shapes and sizes, she took in her fellow travelers, the scenery, and the travel itself with all the style and aplomb and humor of the talented fiction writer and journalist she was-and her words remain fresh and entertaining to this day.

Driven by the promise of prosperity and opportunity on the frontier, thousands of men and women traveled west in the mid-1800s to forge a new life. Accompanying them were their children, wide-eyed and excited about the adventures that awaited them as they headed toward the setting sun. Little did they know how treacherous and grueling the trip would be. The toil and danger of overland travel forced parents to depend on their children to assist in their ultimate survival. Girls were called upon to help cook, set up and break camp, and mind younger siblings. Boys were called upon to help drive the wagons, herd the oxen and horses, assist with wagon repairs, and guard the camp at night. Even with their endless chores, many pioneer boys and girls found time to record the details of their journeys in letters and diaries. This collection of short episodes from the lives of these children on the trail offers fresh perspectives on the experience.