Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Seeing Europe with Famous Authors



I came across this wonderful little book called Seeing Europe with Famous Authors. It's one of a set of ten published by Funk & Wagnalls in 1914. This volume focuses on France and the Netherlands (more France than the Netherlands) and features travel essays from famous authors of the time including novelists:

-  Charles Dickens, author of A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Oliver!, etc., etc.) who wrote about The Papal Palace at Avignon. Turns out that this was the papal seat sometime in the 14th century. Dickens wrote multiple essays for the many of the other volumes as well.
-  Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlett Letter, who writes about The Madeleine and the Champs Elysees in Paris and Amiens, a city north of Paris with a beautiful cathedral
- Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserables, who writes about Notre Dame
Henry James, author of Turn of the Screw and Portrait of a Lady writes about Orange, a borough in France that has in James' words, "a collection of eminently civil monuments."
- William Makepeace Thackeray, author of Vanity Fair, who writes about Versailles







Here's the start of the Notre Dame Essay from Victor Hugo:










It's a wonderful little book and there are quite a few available on Amazon. 




2 comments:

  1. That is such an awesome find, I am extremely jealous and extremely proud of your searching skills. What a wonderful book for any collection.

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  2. I would love this book for my library, if it's ever missing after one of my visits.....

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