Philosophy of travel
| John Locke and Adam Smith both cite more examples from travel writing than from any other genre to support their philosophical investigations. Travel was believed to expand the mind, reduce prejudices, and cultivate taste. While many contemporaries ridiculed such lofty pretensions, travellers and scholars alike compiled their own journals and pored over published arguments about the value of travel, and many no doubt saw themselves as engaged in ennobling work. How could it be leisure, if you thought so hard about it and kept such careful notes? |
A personal diary 
This small vellum diary, with its middle tie, is precisely the sort of
notebook an observant gentleman would be expected to carry on his travels.
This traveller describes the coinages in Florence and Genoa, records epitaphs,
and sketches coats of arms. And like most travellers, he apparently never
finished the journal.
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Common phrases for travelling
This somewhat battered little book attests to its apparent usefulness
for some traveller, though it is difficult to imagine that the blend of
scatalogical and salacious dialogue, 'Common Talke in an Inn', could ever
have proved useful in any language.
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Imaginary dialogues
These two imaginary dialogues raise serious questions about the value
of the grand tour. Locke is the more sceptical speaker, and ultimately
the more forceful. In refuting the traditional argument that travel exposed
one to the various guises of Human Nature, Locke here advocates travel
beyond Europe, to ‘catch Her undressed, nay quite naked in North-America,
and at the Cape of Good Hope'. Perhaps he should have carried The
Gentleman's Pocket Companion with him.
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A book for the tourist
This curious book proved very popular in its day, perhaps because a traveller
following its prescriptions could be sure of returning with much new knowledge
and a broader understanding of the world. That is, if he survived the
cool reactions of the many locals whom he would have to pester in order
to elicit the detailed information Berchtold recommends collecting.
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| Wichmanshausen, Giov,
fl. 1679. Reise von Napoli nach Sicilien und Malta 1679 14 Octr. Ms. handwritten in German, Italian and Latin. Bound in vellum, with flap and tie. de Beer MS39 |
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