Travels Through France and Italy

First published in 1766, this travel book follows Smollett from England across France to Nice and into Italy, written as letters that complain as readily as they describe. He records inns, roads, postilions, diet, and the price of everything, and he judges towns, pictures, and climate with a sick man's irritability. The party includes his wife; the journey is partly taken for health. Classical sites and modern dirt sit side by side. The book is a grumbling Grand Tour narrative, not a novel of the kind he wrote and not a polite guidebook.

Quarter black cloth binding with pale blue front and yellow back paper boards blocked with a repeat pattern by Sebastian Carter. Map endleaves showing central Europe – printed blue on grey at front, brown on yellow at back. Off white slipcase.