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Books > Travel > Travel writing > Classic travel writing
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Jerry
(Paperback)
Jean Webster
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R478
Discovery Miles 4 780
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Norman Douglas, one of the 20th century's great travellers in
Italy, was for most of his life inextricably, passionately,
connected to the Bay of Naples. This breathtaking sweep of sea and
coastline - dominated by Vesuvius and with Pozzuoli and Sorrento
standing sentinel - was Douglas' first experience of Italy. It was
here, on the island of Capri, that he died, some 55 years after
first buying a villa in Naples. Siren Land, Douglas' first travel
book, is a homage to a part of the world that captivated him more
than any other. Weaving the myths of the Sirens into the landscape
and history of the region, Douglas writes with knowledge and an
irrepressible exuberance of the past and the present, of legends
and archaeology, folklore and daily life, patron saints, local
ghosts, wine and the wind. As the summer draws to a close, Douglas'
prose becomes suffused with a melancholy tinged with excitement at
what still remains to be discovered: 'relics of Roman rule, of old
Hellas, or medieval romance... These are the delights of Siren
Land'. 'What makes Siren Land exceptional is the quality of the
telling. Weaving scholarship, impressions, fact and fantasy into an
intricate fabric as enchantingly entertaining and full of human
interest as the best of fairy tales or ancient myths. One of the
most memorable books of its genre' - Mark Holloway, in his
introduction to Siren Land.
The stretch of the longest river in the world that nurtured the
world's first great civilization has drawn and impressed visitors
since ancient times. The Greeks were fascinated by the mysterious
annual flood of the Nile that brought both water and nourishing
silt to the lands along its banks, while nineteenth-century
travellers were amazed by the magnificent tombs and temples of
Upper Egypt.A Nile Anthology brings together the accounts and
reflections of visitors and travellers to the Nile between Luxor
and Aswan through the ages, from Herodotus in the fifth century BC,
and the Arab geographers of medieval times, to such
nineteenth-century luminaries as Amelia Edwards, Florence
Nightingale, Jean Francois Champollion, Edward Lane, and Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle. From the practicalities of river travel to
descriptions of the Pharaonic monuments, via the sights, sounds,
and smells of the teeming souks, our writers guide us through a
world and an age long gone.
Foreign adventurers have been tramping around China for centuries,
and this book presents some of the best of the stories from the
dozens of travel memoirs published, particularly in the golden era
of the late nineteenth century. These accounts, abridged and
explained, concentrate on the gripping details with a constant
commentary on the significance of what is being recounted. They are
a window into old China and also into the mentality of the
adventurers. Lost China Travel Classics is a digestible and
exciting way of meeting some of the greatest travelers of a bygone
age.
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My Journey to Egypt
(Paperback)
Jean-Francois Champollion; Preface by Joyce Tyldesley; Edited by Peter A. Clayton; Translated by Martin Rynja
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R332
R300
Discovery Miles 3 000
Save R32 (10%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Led by Cole Porter in the 1920s, Americans demonstrated that the
best season to visit the French Riviera was not the winter, as had
been the practice, but the summer. With this shift, Americans
became the dominant shapers of tourism on the Riviera in the 20th
century, yet the American achievement in revolutionizing the
economy of the South of France is largely unsung. This insightful
history details the American influence on the Riviera and the
contributions of several individuals. It pays particular attention
to such writers and artists as Edith Wharton, Gerald Murphy, Henry
Clews, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, whose work drew
energy from their stays in the Riviera and in turn helped to cement
an idyllic image of the Riviera in the American popular
consciousness.
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Roughing it
(Paperback)
Mark Twain; Edited by Hamlin Hill; Introduction by Hamlin Hill
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R468
R384
Discovery Miles 3 840
Save R84 (18%)
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A fascinating picture of the American frontier emerges from Twain's fictionalized recollections of his experiences prospecting for gold, speculating in timber, and writing for a succession of small Western newspapers during the 1860s.
The description of his mission to the court of the Shah Tahmasp I
of Persia by the Venetian Michele Membre is one of the most
informative as well as one of the most individual of the few
European accounts of 16th century Persia.
The era in which Ibn Battuta traveled to the East was exciting but
turbulent, cursed by the Black Plague and the fall of mighty
dynasties. His account provides a first-hand account of increased
globalisation due to the rise of Islam, as well as the relationship
between the Western world and India and China in the 14th century.
There are insights into the complex power dynamics of the time, as
well a personal glimpse of the author's life as he sought to
survive them, always staying on the move. The Ri?la contains great
value as a historical document, but also for its religious
commentary, especially regarding the marvels and miracles that Ibn
Battuta encountered. It is also an entertaining narrative with a
wealth of anecdotes, often humorous or shocking, and in many cases
touchingly human. The book records the journey of Ibn Battuta, a
Moroccan jurist who travels to the East, operating at high levels
of government within the vibrant Muslim network of India and China.
It offers fascinating details into the cultures and dynamics of
that region, but goes beyond other travelogues due to the dramatic
narrative of its author - tragedies and wonders fill its pages -
shared for the greater glory of Allah and the edification of its
contemporary audience in the West.
In these two closely linked works - a travel book and a biography of its author - we witness a moving encounter between two of the most daring and original minds of the late eighteenth century: A Short Residence in Sweden is the record of Wollstonecraft's last journey in search of happiness, into the remote and beautiful backwoods of Scandinavia. The quest for a lost treasure ship, the pain of a wrecked love affair, memories of the French Revolution, and the longing for some Golden Age, all shape this vivid narrative, which Richard Holmes argues is one of the neglected masterpieces of early English Romanticism.
Memoirs is Godwin's own account of Wollstonecraft's life, written with passionate intensity a few weeks after her tragic death. Casting aside literary convention, Godwin creates an intimate portrait of his wife, startling in its candour and psychological truth. Received with outrage by friends and critics alike, and virtually suppressed for a century, it can now be recognized as one of the landmarks in the development of modern biography.
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