The British Abroad: The Grand Tour In The Eighteenth Century

This was a very detailed account of what it would have been like for a well-to-do Englishman to travel the Continent in the mid to late 18th Century. It's all here. How they got around, what they saw, what they wore, the difficulties encountered, etc. Visiting distant lands could be dangerous and deadly, many succumbing to disease (including STDs).

This review concerns the actual book product, not the content of the book. The print on demand version of this I received begins on page “vii” of the preface so pages are missing.

I found this book very helpful for my research on the Grand Tour in the 1800's. Very detailed, which I appreciated. It's remarkable to me that these people travelled so far and spent several years of their lives doing so. I hadn't fully appreciated that before.

I absolutely adore this book! It is so thorough and will give you the most generic yet magnificent facts on whatever you need to know about the Grand Tour. You can definately use this if you're a history buff! It's easy to understand and fascinating...

This book contains a wealth of information about the Grand Tours undertaken by the young British nobles in the 18th century and quotes from hundreds of letters and diary accounts. That is all very well, but when too many of the quotes say the same thing, they seem unnecessary. Each of the many many sections contains a short summary of the views of the tourists on each subject, and that is then supported by page after page of quotes. Had there only been 2-3 quotes, the book would have been a much more interesting read. It doesn't help either that the book is written with tiny type (size 7 or 8).

As I'm partial to historical novels, I had come across the notion of 'the Grand Tour' lots of times (as, for instance, in novels as diverse as Thackeray's 'Vanity Fair' or Nicholas Griffin's 'The Masquerade') so when I found this book on Amazon I jumped at the chance and bought it immediately. And what a good decision that turned out to be! Jeremy Black discusses the Grand Tour at its height (the 18th century) in all its diversity. No stone is left unturned, as you can tell from the chapter headings:- Numbers- Routes and destinations- Cost and finance- Transport- Accommodation- Food and Drink- War, Disputes, Accidents and Crime- Health and Death- Love, Sex, Gambling and Drinking- Social and Political Reflections- Religion- The Arts- The debate over the Grand tour: conclusionsWhat's more, this isn't just a secondhand description of the above-mentioned topics. Black riddles each chapter with dozens of not hundreds of quotes and excerpts from private journals and letters to family and friends (argueing, and rightly so according to me, that these often reflect more objectively and honestly the thoughts and feelings of the writers as compared to what's written in journals meant from the very start to be published). I cannot begin to imagine how much material Black must have perused to assemble this tsunami of quotes, but they are highly effective: one really gets a very lively and firsthand insight into the (often hilarious) things people wrote in their own journals or home to friends and family.The popular view (or one that I held at least) of the Grand Tour as an educational trip along the great historical sights of (mostly) France and Italy tends to make one focus on those activities (society balls, grand receptions at courts, visits to museums or battlefields) and ignoring the rest: the often abominable condition of roads, the unfamiliar food, language problems, religious differences, ... Not so anymore once you've read this book! In fact, apart from having learned an enormous lot about the Grand Tour itself I finished this book with huge admiration for the many people that undertook it: they endured hardships none of us would be willing to suffer while on holiday ;-)History writing at its best!

The main problem we had with this paper back edition was the small print size. We later bought a hardback edition which we could read comfortably

Professor Jeremy Black's thematic account of the Grand Tour, in particular of the British abroad, is an educational, enjoyable read.

This is a readable book, based on solid research and a wide range of sources, explaining why the Grand Tour became such an important part of life for the wealthiest members of British society, how people travelled, where they stayed, what they ate, the sights they saw, the people they met, the money they spent, the illnesses they contracted and the souvenirs they brought back. There are a few illustrations but these are intended only to complement the text, this is not a coffee-table book.Recommended as a comprehensive but straightforward introduction to Grand Tourism.