Arm Chair Traveller

Here are some fun old travel books.

This one for Corsica, Itinerary through Corsica by its Rail, Carriage & Forest Roads is from 1888. Step back in time and do the Grand Tour.


Familar Spanish Travels, 1911. Needs the zip file download to view pictures.

Europe—Whither Bound? Being Letters of Travel from the Capitals of Europe in the Year 1921


A Traveller in War-Time, Winston Churchill, very direct writer, easy to speed read. Interesting!

English Travellers of the Renaissance, a history of traveling for culture and education.

The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

Sunny Memories of a Foreign Land, Volume I and II by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Normandy Picturesque, 1870, travels in France. Very Grand Tourish and interesting, and much is still the same.

How to Enjoy Paris in 1842
Intended to Serve as a Companion and Monitor, Containing
Historical, Political, Commercial, Artistical, Theatrical
And Statistical Information

John Locke, author of Concerning Humane Understanding(books 1 and 2), and (books three and four) popularized the idea of didactic travel for young people. The Grand Tour was a European travel itinerary that flourished from about 1660 until the arrival of mass rail transit in the 1820s. It was popular amongst young British upper-class men and served as an educational rite of passage for the wealthy. Similar trips were made by the wealthy of other Northern European nations. Its primary value lay in the exposure both to the cultural artifacts of antiquity and the Renaissance and to the aristocratic and fashionable society of the European continent. A grand tour could last from several months to several years.