Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia

by Jennifer Speake (Editor)

Overview

Containing more than 600 entries, this valuable resource presents all aspects of travel writing. There are entries on places and routes (Afghanistan, Black Sea, Egypt, Gobi Desert, Hawaii, Himalayas, Italy, Northwest Passage, Samarkand, Silk Route, Timbuktu), writers (Isabella Bird, Ibn Battuta, Bruce Chatwin, Gustave Flaubert, Mary Kingsley, Walter Ralegh, Wilfrid Thesiger), methods of transport and types of journey (balloon, camel, grand tour, hunting and big game expeditions, pilgrimage, space travel and exploration), genres (buccaneer narratives, guidebooks, New World chronicles, postcards), companies and societies (East India Company, Royal Geographical Society, Society of Dilettanti), and issues and themes (censorship, exile, orientalism, and tourism).

For a full list of entries and contributors, a generous selection of sample entries, and more, visit the Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia website.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781135456627
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/12/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	2100
File size:	142 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Jennifer Speake

Table of Contents

Entries include: Afghanistan; Airplane; Alexander the Great (356-323 BC); Atlantic Ocean: Middle Passage; Backpacking; Baker, Samuel White (1821-93); Balkans; Byrd, William (1674-1744); Byzantine Empire; Canals; Champlain, Samuel de (1567-1635); Children's travel writing; Cook, James (1728-79); Diaries; Dickens, Charles (1812-70); East India Company (Dutch); Fantasy travel; France: pre-revolutionary; Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832); Golden Fleece, Quest for; Henry the Navigator voyages; Hunting and big game expeditions; Iceland; Journalists and journalism; Kashmir; Landscape and topography; Melville, Herman (1819-91); Mesopotamia; Military memoirs; Northwest Frontier; Pizarro, Francisco (c. 1478-1541); Race and ethnicity, issues of; Royal Geographical Society; Sahara Desert; Siberia; Slave narratives (New World); Space travel and exploration; Timbuktu; Verne, Jules (1828-1905); Vespucci, Amerigo (1451-1512)

Editorial Reviews

If reference books were precious stones, then this encyclopedia would rank among the very finest of gems. This extensive three-volume source of travel and exploration information includes over 600 entries, of which 230 are complemented by multi-media illustrations (e.g., woodcuts, photographs, and manuscript drawings). Focusing on both individual writers and locales, this reference will thrill the connoisseur of autobiographical travel while providing contextual data for potential travelers. The journeys of such historic figures as Alexander the Great, Sir Richard Francis Burton, and Wilfred Thesiger are covered in fascinating detail, and readers are also introduced to such lesser lights as Carsten Niebuhr, a German geographer and cartographer, and British nurse Kate Marsden. The geographic entries are wide-ranging as well, covering countries such as Albania, areas such as Central Asia, and routes such as the Northwest Passage. Whatever the focus, readers are given a general overview of travel and exploration from varying perspectives. As a bonus, the thematic entries illuminate a multitude of topics, from logbooks and the Crusades to volcanology and Romanticism. A researcher's cornucopia and an armchair traveler's delight, this is a significant contribution to the genre with a long shelf life. Highly recommended for any library.-Jo-Anne Mary Benson, Osgoode, Ont. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

"If reference books were precious stones, then this encyclopedia would rank among the very finest of gems... This reference will thrill the connoisseur of autobiographical travel while providing contextual date for potential travelers... As a bonus, the thematic entries illuminate a multitude of topics, from logbooks and the Crusades to volcanology and Romanticism. A researcher's cornucopia and an armchair traveler's delight, this is a significant contribution to the genre with a long shelf life. Highly recommended for any library." — Library Journal (starred review)
"This outstanding resource splendidly surveys the world of travel. It should find an appreciative audience in both academic and public libraries." — Lawrence Looks at Books, Gale Reference Reviews
"Suitable for general audience or for students needing a starting point for research." — Reference & Research Book News
"Rich and inspiring introduction to primary sources for undergraduate and advanced high-school students and an excellent source for further research for graduate students and other scholars. Unique in scope and purpose... Highly recommended for college and university collections and large public libraries." — Booklist

From the Publisher