[Diary], [ca. 1832?].

ArchivalResource

Edwards, Henry Jr. [Diary], [ca. 1832?].

[Diary], [ca. 1832?].

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/702177233

Manuscript fair copy of diary of travel from Paris through Switzerland to Milan and Venice beginning in August 1831. In addition to describing travel arrangements and scenery, Edwards takes particular note of literary tourist sites, including Ferney, Chalens, the Hospice of St. Bernard and the Castle of Chillon, which he compares in detail to Byron's "sweet poem." He also comments in detail on the new Simplon Road and the prevalence of goiter in the Alps. After touring the cathedrals and artwork of Milan, Edwards proceeded to Venice with his "old companion Lord Wiltshire." The journal contains enthusiastic descriptions of the "beauty and magnificence" of Venice "rising from the sea;" details visits to San Marco and other sights; and describes a long conversation between Edwards and an Armenian monk who claimed to have been Byron's tutor and who provided "very interesting little anecdotes about...his mode of living and...his hours of melancholy." This section of the diary concludes with a pencilled note referring to his diary of the rest of his time in Italy "in another book which I have mislaid." The volume also contains five pages describing his climb on Mount Vesuvius during the eruption and his experience in a storm off Stromboli.

1 v. (36 p., many blanks) ; 20 x 13 cm.

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library