travel diary

After serving with the Texas Rangers in his late teens and early 20s, then studying for a career in medicine (in Kentucky), and then for the ministry (at Princeton), Charles Webber finally settled into journalism, writing for several literary reviews. Enticed by tales of gold and quicksilver in the country north of the Gila River in Arizona, Webber organized an expedition to the region, writing this and other books to promote it.

“Dear Reader: If you have visited California, you will find nothing in these pages to interest you; if you have not, they may serve to kill an idle hour." With this bit of stark understatement, the reader is introduced to California Illustrated, a journal published in 1852. This book chronicles the author’s journey with a group of travelers making their way to California. There’s whale spotting, a shipwide illness, and the travelers' arrival at the Islands of Turks and Caicos—and that’s just in the first chapter.

This gilded and richly illustrated volume describes the 19th-century travels of explorer Jane Dieulafoy. Dieulafoy documented her explorations through what is now Iraq and Iran. Dieulafoy uses the expressive language of her time to describe the weather, people, cultures, and treasures she encountered. The volume includes many illustrations of the villages, ports, and bazaars she visited. The illustrations are prints from wood engravings based on the author’s photographs.