Purchase one of 1st World Library's Classic Books and help support our free internet library of downloadable eBooks. Visit us online at www.1stWorldLibrary.ORG - - FOR nearly ten years my health had been declining; and for some while before I set forth upon my voyage, I believed I was come to the afterpiece of life, and had only the nurse and undertaker to expect. It was suggested that I should try the South Seas; and I was not unwilling to visit like a ghost, and be carried like a bale, among scenes that had attracted me in youth and health. I chartered accordingly Dr. Merrit's schooner yacht, the CASCO, seventy-four tons register; sailed from San Francisco towards the end of June 1888, visited the eastern islands, and was left early the next year at Honolulu. Hence, lacking courage to return to my old life of the house and sick-room, I set forth to leeward in a trading schooner, the EQUATOR, of a little over seventy tons, spent four months among the atolls (low coral islands) of the Gilbert group, and reached Samoa towards the close of '89. By that time gratitude and habit were beginning to attach me to the islands; I had gained a competency of strength; I had made friends; I had learned new interests; the time of my voyages had passed like days in fairyland; and I decided to remain. I began to prepare these pages at sea, on a third cruise, in the trading steamer JANET NICOLL. If more days are granted me, they shall be passed where I have found life most pleasant and man most interesting; the axes of my black boys are already clearing the foundations of my future house; and I must learn to address readers from the uttermost parts of the sea.

'A book worth reading' Andrew Marr, Sunday Times The Debatable Land was an independent territory which used to exist between Scotland and England. At the height of its notoriety, it was the bloodiest region in Great Britain, fought over by Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and James V. After the Union of the Crowns, most of its population was slaughtered or deported and it became the last part of the country to be brought under the control of the state. Today, its history has been forgotten or ignored. When Graham Robb moved to a lonely house on the very edge of England, he discovered that the river which almost surrounded his new home had once marked the Debatable Land's southern boundary. Under the powerful spell of curiosity, Robb began a journey - on foot, by bicycle and into the past - that would uncover lost towns and roads, reveal the truth about this maligned patch of land and result in more than one discovery of major historical significance. Rich in detail and epic in scope, The Debatable Land takes us from a time when neither England nor Scotland could be imagined to the present day, when contemporary nationalism and political turmoil threaten to unsettle the cross-border community once more. Writing with his customary charm, wit and literary grace, Graham Robb proves the Debatable Land to be a crucial, missing piece in the puzzle of British history. Includes a 16-page colour plate section.

International bestseller now in new gift format!

A celebration of food, culture and place, here are 100 dishes from Tokyo, the gastronomic megacity.

If you want sushi, miso soup, gyoza, ramen, donburi, bento, tonkatsu, lotus root chips, mochi or a yuzu sorbet ... they're all here. Plus features on essential cooking techniques and key ingredients, making it truly Japanese food made simple.

Author Maori Murota grew up in Tokyo and was inspired to write this book by her mother's cooking and memories of cooking at home and eating out. Her mission is to demystify Japanese food, to make it accessible and understood by anyone and everyone interested in learning about a food culture and eating well.

A pioneer in Illinois, come from England. Nice descriptions of flora and fauna once he's bought his land in Illinois.

Young couple, four children, husband agriculturalist British Government Kenya; S. Nyanza province. Tea, coffee, pyrethrum. Photographic safaris birds/animals. Many adventures, Kenya/Tanzania/ Uganda/ Ethiopia. Diaries from 1958 (20 years).

Between the late 1890s and the early 1900s, the young Irish writer John Millington Synge journeyed across his home country, documenting his travels intermittently for ten years. His body of travel writing includes the travel book The Aran Islands, his literary journalism about West Kerry and Wicklow published in various periodicals, and his articles for the Manchester Guardian about rural poverty in Connemara and Mayo. Although Synge's nonfiction is often considered of minor weight compared with his drama, Bruna argues persuasively that his travel narratives are instances of a pioneering ethnographic and journalistic imagination. J. M. Synge and Travel Writing of the Irish Revival is the first comprehensive study of Synge's travel writing about Ireland, compiled during the zeitgeist of the preindependence Revival movement. Bruna argues that Synge's nonfiction subverts inherited modes of travel writing that put an emphasis on Empire and Nation. Synge's writing challenges these grand narratives by expressing a more complex idea of Irishness grounded in his empathetic observation of the local rural communities he traveled amongst. Drawing from critically neglected revivalist travel literature, newspapers and periodicals, and visual and archival documents, Bruna sketches a new portrait of a seminal Irish Literary Renaissance figure and sheds new light on the itineraries of activism and literary engagement of the broader Revival movement.

Spellbound by his grandmother s Anglo Indian heritage and the exuberant annual visits of her friend the Begum, Isambard Wilkinson became enthralled by Pakistan as an intrepid teenager, eventually working there as a foreign correspondent during the War on Terror. Seeking the land behind the headlines, Bard sets out to discover the essence of a country convulsed by Islamist violence. What of the old, mystical Pakistan has survived and what has been destroyed? His is a funny, hashish? and whisky?scented travel book from the frontline, full of open?hearted delight and a poignant lust for life.

An American veteran recalls his journey from California back to his native East Coast, a journey achieved mostly on foot.

With charm, inspiration, and plenty of whimsy, Taylor reminds us that even in a weary world, it’s possible to celebrate the beauty in each person’s unique story—and make a difference that goes deeper than you’ll ever know.

Flight attendant Taylor Tippett had just finished beverage service and was sitting in the back of a Boeing 737 when she had a revelation: How can I show kindness to these passengers if I can’t show it to myself? She grabbed a tiny notepad and a Sharpie and wrote: “Be kind to yourself.” Before she had time to think about it, Taylor taped the note to a window, posted a picture, and then left the slip of paper in a seat-back pocket for someone on the next flight to find. And soon what started as a personal project to encourage herself and others became a viral sensation.

In Words from the Window Seat, Taylor shares stories of her travels, daily life, and interactions with people of all kinds, anchoring each chapter around a note she’s left for a stranger to find.

As she takes you from Chicago to Paris to Barcelona on planes, trains, and even a skateboard, you’ll:

• learn how to embody love in the midst of someone else’s ordinary day through little acts of kindness;
• discover the small moments of magic that happen when you have the courage to find them; and
• find ways to embrace your authentic self, even though life can be hard.

Published in 1836, Power, a famous Irish stage actor and theatrical manager and great-grandfather of the 1930s and 1940s Hollywood film star Tyrone Power, offers his perspectives on America, based on extensive theatrical tours taken during the years of 1833, 1834, and 1835 through New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and the South. Especially rich are his descriptions of the theater audiences for whom he performed, describing the differences among the audiences of such cities as New York, Albany, Boston, Pittsburg, and New Orleans. Through these descriptions we can get a feeling for the customs and manners of the residents of these and the other cities Power visited on his tours. Vol. 1 of 2

Perhaps the first modern travelogues still to capture the imaginations of armchair explorers, the mid-19th-century bestselling books of American diplomat and writer JOHN LLOYD STEPHENS (1805-1852) reads like the most inspired of novels. The poetic immediacy places the reader square in the saddle of adventure.In this classic 1837 work-which a critic like Edgar Allan Poe praised for its "freshness of manner evincing manliness of feeling"-Stephens takes the reader on an evocative journey through the Middle East, from a visit to the pyramids of Egypt to encounters with enthusiastic locals and much more.Complete with all the beautiful original illustrations by English artist and architect Frederick Catherwood (1799-1854), this delightful book continues to enthrall adventurous spirits today.JOHN LLOYD STEPHENS (1805-1852) was an important part of the reintroduction of Mayan Civilization to middle America. He was an explorer, diplomat, and writer, who specialized in Mesoamerican studies. He incorporated the Ocean Steam Navigation Company at a time when the British controlled travel to and from the United States. In 1849 he was appointed the Vice President of the Panama Railroad Company, later becoming the president. He supervised the project until his death from a liver disease at age 46.

Pointless, risky, absurd. Yes, that is the beauty of it - absurdly determined to metamorphose themselves into a glossy photograph seen in a glossy magazine that caused a spark of desire within the tinder-dry kindling of their imagination. They were consumed with all that the photograph promised until that reality could be made theirs: to achieve all of the experience, the life's journey implied within it, to redefine their already long lives, to change themselves, to fast-track to the achievement of the decades of experience exemplified by those young adventurers in that glossy photograph in that glossy magazine. What an absurd notion. For no other reason, it had to be: three quickly became five guys on heritage motorcycles, hooking up with an ex-Special Forces operative and a combat zone photographer to make it seven for a safari across the top of Africa. From Spain to Tangier, they traversed the Riff, navigated the Atlas Mountains, circled Cirque du Jaffar, and rode through the Gorges du Ziz. Rough-riding across Morocco has never been so much fun. Wild camping on the way under star-spattered sky, across unforgiving terrain where luxury is a warm sleeping bag. In places where if you don't guard it you lose it, and where changing co-ordinates on a fast and furious basis makes good sense. Through oft sudden lows where the warmth of a Moroccan welcome exceeds the heat from black coffee, honeyed mint teas, or a meal from a hot tajine. Until dusty boots touch down on the sands of the Sahara at Erg Chebbi to witness a new dawn rise.

From comical misunderstandings and hilarious mishaps to the sheer terror of a near-death experience, these are the true-life global adventures and keen observations of one American traveler.

During his forty years of international travel, Edward Gray journeyed through the old Communist regimes of the USSR, Western Europe, the Americas, and the Far East. He lived through coup attempts in Portugal, Peru, and France; skyjacking incidents in the Middle East and the United States; and his family's extended stay at the JFK Airport in the blizzard of 1993.

At once a personal memoir, an intriguing international travelogue, and a fascinating blend of history and sociology, "Call a Bomb a Rifle" includes Gray's most entertaining, lively, and insightful anecdotes about life among strangers. Whether he's witnessing the purchase of a bushel of cherries in Istanbul, skiing in the Italian Alps, or watching the pilot and his fellow passengers perish in a major airplane crash, Gray is forever changed by his worldly excursions.

This remarkable memoir chronicles a lifetime of exploration into the various cultures, languages, and idiosyncrasies that divide us as a species-and the underlying humanity that unites us.

A French count's commentaries on America at the birth of the Civil War. While he has obviously examined different parts of the U.S. at length, his book is not really an account of his travels, and speaks of the country not in specifics but in broad strokes: The South, the West, the North. No list of places visited can be provided.

A Visit to Wazan, the Sacred City of Morocco Originally published in 1880, this book offers a fascinating insight into a Morocco that, at that time, was untouched by western influence. Contetns Include: Introduction, Langifr, The Great Cherif and the Cherifa, Preparation, On the Road, Druidical Remains at Majorah-Arjila, By the Way, Al Kasar, The Way to Wazan, Wazan, Asigen, Rest, Across Country, Toward Tetuan, Tetuan, Return to Tangier, Tangier Again. Also includes appendix and maps and illustrations. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Obscure Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Published in 1836, Power, a famous Irish stage actor and theatrical manager and great-grandfather of the 1930s and 1940s Hollywood film star Tyrone Power, offers his perspectives on America, based on extensive theatrical tours taken during the years of 1833, 1834, and 1835 through New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and the South. Especially rich are his descriptions of the theater audiences for whom he performed, describing the differences among the audiences of such cities as New York, Albany, Boston, Pittsburg, and New Orleans. Through these descriptions we can get a feeling for the customs and manners of the residents of these and the other cities Power visited on his tours. Vol. 2 of 2