This essay of a cultured observer, for many years United States consul in Rome, appeared in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol 10, issue 59, April, 1855, pp 577 - 600.

National Geographic Magazine Volume 2 Number 1 April 1890.: On the Telegraphic Determinations of Longitude by the Bureau of Navigation Report: Geography of the Land Report: Geography of the Air National Geographic Magazine Volume 2 Number 2 May 1890.: The Rivers of Northern New Jersey, with notes on the classification of rivers in general. A Critical Review of Bering's First Expedition, 1725-30, together with a translation of his original Report upon it. Supplementary note on the alleged observation of a Lunar Eclipse by Bering in 1728-9.

The illustrator and author Rockwell Kent (1882-1971)wrote and illustrated this description of a trip to Alaska with his eldest son. Though an audiobook listener cannot, of course, see Kent's illustrations, the artist's eye is evident throughout the text. Wilderness: A Journal of Quiet Adventure in Alaska — Memoir of the fall and winter of 1918/19 painting and exploring with his eldest son – also Rockwell – on Fox Island in Resurrection Bay, Alaska (1920).

"Books of the Marvels of the World" or "Description of the World" (Divisament dou monde), also nicknamed "Il Milione" ("The Million") or "Oriente Poliano", but commonly called "The Travels of Marco Polo", is a 13th-century travelogue written down by Rustichello da Pisa from stories told by Marco Polo, describing the travels of the latter through Asia, Persia, China, and Indonesia between 1271 and 1291.It's been a very famous and popular book since the 14th century, creating the image of Marco Polo as the icon of the bold traveller...

In the early days of the penal colony at Sydney, rumour was rife among the convicts of another colony beyond the Blue Mountains and perhaps a route to China. In the hope of quelling the rumours, Governor John Hunter put together a bizarre exploration party, charged to travel as far into the interior as it could. The party consisted of four convicts, two guides and four soldiers to protect the guides from the convicts. The leader of the party was John Wilson, an ex-convict who had elected to live in the bush among the Aborigines, who had named him Bunboee...

An English Girl's First Impressions of Burmah, by Beth Ellis, is a well-edited, turn-of-the-century journal documenting a young woman’s visit to Burma. The account documents her ocean voyage to Rangoon, and her stay in a small, jungle-embedded, European community in Remyo. The author, who travelled to Asia alone to visit her brother, is quick to laugh at her own exaggerated fears. She gives us a glimpse into the less-than-glamorous lives to Myanmar’s British occupiers. The book was published in 1899, just thirteen years after the conclusion of the third Anglo-Burmese war, when Britain took formal control of Myanmar and made it a province of India.

George Washington Sears, who many know better by his pen name "Nessmuk", was an outdoor writer during the last half of the 19th century, writing most often for the magazine "Field and Forest", the predecessor of today's "Field and Stream". "Woodcraft" is his book for "outers" with his tips on how to "smooth it" rather than rough it in the woods. Although some of his methods, equipment and mores may be out of date or objectionable to modern readers, his stories of true wilderness travel tinged with his subtle humor still have messages for those venturing out of doors...

Although Mount St. Elias had been known to native Americans for thousands of years and to Europeans since 1741 when Vitus Bering saw the peak and gave it its current name, it was not successfully climbed until 1897 by a party lead by Prince Luigi Amadeo di Savoia, Duke of the Abruzzi. This is the story of that expedition. Mount St. Elias was not climbed again for another 50 years when the advent of air support made the logistics of the climb less daunting.

Hudson traveled to Patagonia to study the birds, but shortly upon arrival accidentally shot himself in the knee, requiring a lengthy period of idleness to recover, hence the title of the book. It's not just a work of ornithology, but a personal memoir of the people and natural history of Patagonia.

A witty 1853 travelogue by a cultured German for his countrymen. “…for I did not write for an English public, nor did I ever pretend to popularity in England. The “SAUNTERINGS” were intended for the profit and amusement of my German countrymen; and I must say I was not a little pleased and surprised with the very flattering reception which my book experienced at the hands of the English critics. Their favourable opinion, which they so emphatically and—I am selfish enough to go the whole length of the word—so ably expressed, has probably caused the production of the book in an English dress.” ( Book Preface and david wales)

In the Introduction to Camping and Woodcraft, Horace Kephart wrote: “My one aim in writing this little book is to make it of practical service to those who seek rest or sport in the wilderness, or whose business calls them thither.” The author further described the content of this book: “In the following chapters I offer some suggestions on outfitting, making camps, dressing and keeping game and fish, camp cookery, forest travel, how to avoid getting lost, and what to do if one does get lost,...

National Geographic Magazine Volume 5, articles published in 1893. Contents: Discoverers of America: Annual Address by the President, Gardiner G. Hubbard The Movements of our Population Rainfall Types of the United States: Annual Report by Vice-President General A. W. Greely The Natural Bridge of Virginia The geographical Position and Height of Mount Saint Elias The Improvement of Geographical Teaching An undiscovered Island off the northern Coast of Alaska The Geologist at Blue Mountain, Maryland The...

Lost in the wilderness of The Yellowstone for over a month, nearly dying of starvation and wild animal attack, despairing of ever finding his way out. Here are six relatively unknown early pieces about the U.S.A.’s first national park. The first is a U.S. Geological booklet about initial exploration and Congress’s institution of the park. The next two are articles from Scribner’s Monthly, 1871, a very popular magazine of the time, describing the park’s features (vol 2 #1 pp 1-17 and vol 2 #2 pp 113-128) ...

An Account of Camp Life in the Wilder Parts of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Together with a Description of the Region About Banff, Lake Louise and Glacier, and a Sketch of the Early Explorations.

The National Geographic Magazine, an illustrated monthly, the January Number. It includes the Introductory by the editor, John Hyde, and the following articles: Russia in Europe, an annual address by Hon. Gardiner G. Hubbard The Arctic Cruise of the U.S. Revenue Cutter "Bear", by Sheldon Jackson The Scope and Value of Arctic Explorations, by Gen. A. W. Greelyalong with an obituary, geographic literature, executive reports, and North American notes.

The National Geographic Magazine, an illustrated monthly, the November Number. It includes the following articles: * The Witwatersrand and the Revolt of the Uitlanders, by George F. Becker * The Economic Aspects of Soil Erosion by Dr N. S. Shaler * A Critical Period in South African History, by John Hyde * Geographical Notes - Asia

Marie Stopes was a highly controversial scientist and activist in her era, campaigning for radical new views of love-based marriage, birth control, and women’s rights. As a scientist, she was a renowned palaeobotanist, specializing in issues concerning coal; these scientific pursuits led her to spend several years in Japan, where she went into some of the country's remotest coal mines to study fossils. While there, she pursued a notorious relationship with Japanese botanist Fujii Kenjiro as well as several romantic dalliances with European women in the lively Tokyo diplomatic community...

Sometime in the latter half of 1911, Harry A. Franck jumped out of a box-car and crossed the Rio Grande, from Laredo. Thus began a journey, often afoot, that Harry estimated would take him 8 months. It ended up occupying four years of his life. The first leg of his Latin American epic is recorded in "Tramping Through Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras; Being the Random Notes of an Incurable Vagabond" . He then headed south to the Canal Zone, Teddy Roosevelt's grand experiment in socialism, and applied within the Zone police force for a position as a census taker ...

This is not a family history. Family histories are invariably dull and of interest to only a few who have a belief in, and are proud of, their pedigree. It is the story of the mother of a family who led a very eventful life and traveled many thousands of miles, at a time when to meet with a traveled person was exceedingly rare.

In 1890, two Americans newly graduated from college set out to travel around the world on a then-new invention, the modern bicycle. In 1893 they returned, have covered over 15,000 miles, at that time the "longest continuous land journey ever made around the world." This is their account of their trip across Turkey, Persia, Turkestan and northern China. It described their adventures traveling along through regions few outsiders ever visited. And include climbing Mount Ararat and a meeting with the then Chinese Prime Minister. And numerous photographs selected from the 2,500 taken on the almost 3 year trip.

The National Geographic Magazine, an illustrated monthly, the August Number. It includes the following articles: * The Work of the National Geographic Society * Eighth Annual Field Meeting of the National Geographic Society * Geographic History of the Piedmont Plateau, by W J McGee * Spottswood's Expedition of 1716, by Dr William M. Thornton * Jefferson as a Geographer, by Gen. A. W. Greely * Albemarle in Revolutionary Days, by Dr G. Brown Goode along with Geographic Notes and Miscellanea.

The National Geographic Magazine, an illustrated monthly, the December Number. It includes the following articles: The Geography of the Southern Peninsula of the United States, by Rev. John N. MacGonigle The Sage Plains of Oregon by Frederick V. Coville The United States Department of Agriculture and its Biological Survey, by John Hyde Statistics of Railways in the United States, by Henry Gannett Geographic Work in Peru along with geographic Literature, Geographic Notes, and Miscellanea.

This is an account of Nellie Bly's travels through Mexico in 1885. The book was originally a series of individual articles that she submitted to the Pittsburgh Dispatch newspaper for publication. In them she described the conditions of the people and the political system she found in Mexico. Her narratives focused mostly on the impoverished and disadvantaged in a country whose government was extremely corrupt. Bly was perhaps what we now term a feminist, striving for the empowerment and independence of women...

Although the focus of this book is the engravings depicting scenic sites of 19th century America, each is accompanied by a short description of the site and location. These vignettes give us rare glimpses of scenic locations as they appeared in 1840. All sites are in the eastern part of the United States, especially New England and New York. This is Volume Two of a two-volume set. - Summary by Larry Wilson The Book Coordinators for this project were Larry Wilson and Linette Geisel

The National Geographic Magazine, an illustrated monthly, the July Number. It includes the following articles: * The Work of the United States Board on Geographic Names, by Henry Gannett * The Seine, the Meuse, and the Moselle, part II, by William M. Davis * A Journey in Ecuador, by Mark B. Kerr, C. E. * The Aberration of Sound as Illustrated by the Berkeley Powder Explosion, by Robert H. Chapman * Mineral Production in the United States along with Geographic Notes and Miscellanea.

The National Geographic Magazine, an illustrated monthly, the June Number. It includes the following articles: * The Seine, the Meuse, and the Moselle, by William M. Davis * Across the Gulf by rail to Key West, by Jefferson B. Browne * A geographical description of the British Islands, by W. M. Davis * The Mexican Census along with geographic literature, notes and miscellanea.

"It has long been a desideratum to have in English the early narratives, of the discovery and exploration of the Mississippi. Marquette's map and voyage have indeed appeared, but the narrative varies in no small degree from the authentic manuscript, and the map is not at all a copy of that still preserved, as it came from the hand of the great explorer. These published from original manuscripts, and accompanied by the narratives of the missionaries in La Salle's expedition, are now first presented in an accessible shape, and complete the annals of the exploration...

The National Geographic Magazine, an illustrated monthly, the February Number. It includes the following articles: * Venezuela: Her Government, People, and Boundary, by William E. Curtis * The Panama Canal Route, by Robert T. Hill * The Tehuantepec Ship Railway, by Elmer L. Corthell * The Present State of the Nicaragua Canal, by Gen. A. W. Greely * Explorations by the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1895, by W. J. McGee * The Valley of the Orinoco, by T. H. Gignilliat * Yucatan in 1895 along with geographic literature and notes.

The National Geographic Magazine, an illustrated monthly, the May Number. It includes the following articles: * Africa Since 1888, by Hon. Gardiner G. Hubbard, LL. D. * Fundamental Geographic Relation of the Three Americas, by Robert T. Hill * The Kansas River, by Arthur P. Davis * Annual Report of the Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, by Herbert G. Ogden along with geographic literature, and a few miscellaneous notes.

Full titled History of a Six Weeks' Tour through a part of France, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland; with Letters Descriptive of a Sail Round the Lake of Geneva and of the Glaciers of Chamouni, this small journal was a travel narrative kept by the English Romantic authors Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley. They describe two trips, both taken by Mary, Percy, and Mary's stepsister, Claire Clairmont: one across Europe in 1814, and one to Lake Geneva in 1816. Divided into three sections, the text consists of a journal, four letters, and Percy Shelley's poem "Mont Blanc". Apart from the poem, the text was primarily written and organized by Mary Shelley. - Summary by 1817

The National Geographic Magazine, an illustrated monthly, the June Number. It includes the following articles: The Effects of Geographic Environment in the Development of Civilization in Primitive Man, by Gardiner G. Hubbard The National Forest Reserves, by Frederick H. Newell George W. Melville Geographic Serials

The beginning of the last century saw an increasing popularity of the motor car as a viable method of transport for a significant number of the more affluent sections of the population. The freedom, flexibility and speed that this modern invention provided to those who were wealthy enough to be able to afford to buy and to run one of these vehicles, meant that they were soon used for frequent social and pleasure purposes allowing both the travelling to and the exploration of different regions of the country...