The Lure of the North

The 19th-century boom in mass tourism, fuelled by the introduction of the railways, brought with it the rise of travel writing. Guided excursions such as "Cook's Tours" (the first of which was led by Thomas Cook in 1841, and went from Leicester to Loughborough) were not for everyone. Many preferred to strike out alone into the depths of foreign lands. Of these foreign lands, Norway appealed to the more intrepid: the grand scenery, exotic peasantry and comparative cheapness of the Far North suited the enthusiasm of the young (or female) tourist.

The books in "Found on the Shelves" have been chosen to give a fascinating insight into the treasures that can be found while browsing in The London Library. Now celebrating its 175th anniversary, with over seventeen miles of shelving and more than a million books, The London Library has become an unrivalled archive of the modes, manners and thoughts of each generation which has helped to form it.

From essays on dieting in the 1860s to instructions for gentlewomen on trout-fishing, from advice on the ill health caused by the "modern" craze of bicycling to travelogues from Norway, they are as readable and relevant today as they were more than a century ago--even if it is no longer the Norwegian custom for tourists to be awoken by "the best-looking girl in the house"!

William Dawson Hooker was twenty when he travelled to Norway. In July 1836, he was a guest of the Crowe family in the most remote part of Norway. A medical student and the son of a prominent botanist (who would later become the first full-time director of the Royal Gardens at Kew), he was particularly interested in ornithology. Hooker published a dissertation on quinine before dying in Jamaica at the age of twenty-three.

Although this book was published anonymously, the "unprotected females" in question are known to be Emmeline Lowe and her mother. These intrepid travellers would go on to publish Unprotected females in Sicily, Calabria and on Top of Mount Aetna, before giving up such independent adventures when Emmeline Lowe was married in 1859.

A hand-written inscription on The London Library's copy of this rare pamphlet reveals the author as Edward Stanford, Junior, son of the founder of the great travel bookseller and publisher Stanfords.