Holograph diary, apparently incomplete, of a Continental tour from London through France, Belgium and Germany, ending near Zurich. The author, probably a young woman traveling with her family, lists sights seen, miles traveled, and towns passed through. The author is particularly interested in minute details of women's clothing and jewelry; encounters with peasants and beggars; "blasphemous" roadside shrines featuring the Virgin Mary and Christ crucified; natural wonders; and museum displays of natural history. The author comments at length on the family's "deeply affecting" visit to the site of Waterloo; a tour of a seltzer bottling plant in Schlagenbach; "Mamma's" trouble with customs officials in Germany; and the museum at Bonn.
Description:
Binding: original quarter-roan marbled boards. and Purchased from Patrick King Rare Books on the James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Fund, 2005.
Subject (Geographic):
Belgium--Description and travel, France--Description and travel, Germany--Description and travel, and Waterloo (Belgium)--Description and travel
Subject (Topic):
Tourism--Europe, Travelers' writings, English, and Women travelers
Manuscript, in a single hand, of a travel diary of the author's tour of Germany, Switzerland and Italy while first chamberlain for Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, queen consort of George IV. Sailing from Worthing in Sussex in attendance on her, Gell describes the topography of the countries he visits and illustrates it with maps and pen sketches, including mountain ranges in Geneva; an outline of the mountains of the Vosges and the different rock formations there; and a sketch of the Rhone. He discusses the effects on the countryside of the campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte; describes Mont Blanc and the attempts to reach its summit; mentions the people he meets, in particular members of the Italian nobility as well as scientists and mathematicians; and visits museums and works of art. He also includes observations on rocks, mines, minerals, fossils, an insane asylum, a school for deaf mutes, and an epidemic of pellagra. and Sir William Gell (1777-1836) was a classical archaeologist and topographer. From 1804 to 1806 he traveled in Greece and the neighboring islands. In 1807, he was elected a member of the Society of Dilettanti and a fellow of the Royal Society. In 1811 the Society of Dilettanti commissioned him to explore Greece and Asia Minor, resulting in several publications on topography, including Geography and Antiquities of Ithaca and Itinerary of Greece. He was knighted in 1814, and died at Naples in 1836.
Alternative Title:
Journal in Germany, Switzerland & Italy.
Description:
At beginning of volume: itinerary of cities visited and distance in miles., At end of volume: list of notable Italians; and a list of English travelers at Naples in the winter of 1814-15., Binding: half calf over marbled boards. In gilt on cover: Journal in Germany. Switzerland. & Italy., Imperfect: pagination in volume after p. 125 excludes blank pages., and Pasted inside front cover: bookplate of Robert Edward Way.
Subject (Geographic):
Blanc, Mont (France and Italy), Germany--Description and travel, Italy--Description and travel, and Switzerland--description and travel
Subject (Name):
Caroline, Queen, consort of George IV, King of Great Britain, 1768-1821, Gell, William, Sir, 1777-1836, and Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
Subject (Topic):
Geology--Europe, Nobility--Italy, Topography, and Travelers' writings, English