Journals, 1837-1843

Holograph fair copy of five travel diaries kept by the future Earl of Warwick between 1837 and 1843. The first and second chronicle summer vacation trips to France, accompanied by a tutor and then by his mother and sister. Topics include Greville's first visit to a Paris restaurant, his loss of a wallet to a pickpocket in the Palais Royal, and his introduction to the first woman to climb Mont Blanc, "who was of the uninteresting age of forty."

The third and fourth diaries describe two extended tours of Italy in 1839-40 and 1840-41. In addition to discussing the art, antiquities and monuments he viewed, Greville comments on life among the expatriates of Venice and Florence; his acquaintance with the sculptor John Gibson in Rome; and his reaction to Naples, Pompeii and Herculaneum. The 1840-41 tour included a sea-voyage to and extended stay in Constantinople, where Greville took every opportunity to view and describe Turkish daily life and customs; and another sojourn in Rome, where he was introduced to Cardinal Fesch and Pope Gregory XVI and given a personal tour of the Vatican Library, including the opportunity to read some of the "more quaint than modest" letters from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn. Greville also notes social events and visits with many Anglo-Catholics resident in Rome, including Lord Plunkett, Lady Davy, and the Beckfords

The final diary in the volume records Greville's observations of a tour through Germany in 1843, including a lengthy visit with John Mitchell Kemble in Munich