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The First Practical Edition

RADCLIFFE, ANN.

A Journey Made in the Summer of 1794, Through Holland and the Western Frontier of Germany, with a Return Down the Rhine: To Which are Added Observations During a Tour to the Lakes of Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland.

Place and Imprint: London: Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, 1795.
Edition: Second edition, the same year as the first which was issued in an unwieldy large, think single-volume quarto format; this second edition was reset in a two-volume octavo format and thus is the first practical edition.
Bibliographical References: Robinson, Wayward Women, pages 290-91; NCBEL III, 759.
Condition: Edges a little rubbed; corners slightly bumped; very good copy in a handsome contemporary binding.
Book ID: 29087

Physical Description

2 vols, 8vo, contemporary speckled calf, red and black morocco spine labels, gilt decorations and lettering.

Comments

The only venture into travel writing by the poet and novelist Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823), a narrative of her European sojourn in 1794 with her journalist husband William. It began as a picturesque tour through Holland, but as they progressed on to Germany, they found themselves in the midst of the first Franco-Prussian war which began in 1792 and was still raging. They stayed in towns that had recently been under siege, passed armies of both countries on the pockmarked roads, heard gun fire as they dined at an inn, and at one point were suspected of being spies. They attempted to get within view of an active battlefield, but their sensible coachman refused to go there. All of this is chronicled in a colorful, matter-of-fact style by Radcliffe, almost as if she relished the adventure, interspersed with statistics on the loss of life, munitions and the ravages of war. Gothic novelist turned war correspondent. In the foreword, Radcliffe wrote that the work was a collaboration with her husband - whose name does not appear on the title-page - and that the political commentary should be attributed to him. Bookplate on the front paste-downs of Franz Pollack Parnau.

Price: $750.00