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A Bibliography of British Travel Books on Argentina: 1810-1860

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

S. Samuel Trifilo
S. Samuel Trifilo*
Affiliation:
Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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Extract

Books of travel and books inspired by travel have probably been more popular in Great Britain than any other literary form, with the exception of novels.

This was especially true in the nineteenth century, when travel, owing to the lack of today's facilities, was reserved for the relative few. During that period, photography had not yet replaced the written word, as is happening in our own generation. The nineteenth-century Englishman wandered through the medium of a travel book and not through newsreels, travelogues, and even full-length movies. Today, the Englishman, like the American, is able to sit in his living room and see the world on his television screen. He is not dependent on literature to the extent that his grandfather or great-grandfather was. For the Englishman of the nineteenth century, therefore, travel literature was very important. Often, these books furnished the only source of information concerning strange lands and strange peoples.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , October 1959 , pp. 133 - 143
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1959

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References

1 Kirkpatrick, F.A., “The Literature of Travel,” in The Cambridge History of English Literature (Cambridge, 1916), 14, 256.Google Scholar

2 Cordero, Carlos J., Los relatos de los viajeros extranjeros posteriores a la revolución de mayo como fuentes de la historia argentina (Buenos Aires, 1936), pp. 7–8.Google Scholar

3 Cf. Jones, Tom B., South America Rediscovered (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1949),Google Scholar and my unpublished doctoral dissertation, “Argentina as Seen by British Travelers: 1810–1860,” University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

4 Cf. Nevins, Allan, American Social History as Recorded by British Travelers (New York, 1923)Google Scholar; Mesick, Jane Louise, English Traveller in America, 1785–1835 (New York, 1922)Google Scholar; Berger, Max, The British Traveller in America, 1836–1860 (New York, 1943).Google Scholar

5 Quoted in Cordero, op. cit., p. 9. Translation from the original Spanish mine.

6 An excellent facsimile edition of this work was printed in Buenos Aires in 1943, by the Editorial Viau Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada.

7 Cordero, op. cit., p. 72.

8 Arrieta, Rafael Alberto, La ciudad y los libros (Buenos Aires, 1955), p. 48.Google Scholar

9 Of all the British travelers who left us written accounts during the period we are considering, Head was the only one who ended his career as a professional writer. In addition to the work mentioned above, he also wrote, among others, Life of Bruce, and Bubbles from the Brunnens of Nassau by an Old Man, considered his best work. In 1835, he had the distinction of being named Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada.

10 Cordero, op. cit., p. 122. Translation from original Spanish mine.

11 Kirkpatrick, op. cit., p. 250.

12 Their work on Paraguay has the distinction of being the first English work on South America to be translated into Spanish. On June 30, 1841, there began to appear in El Nacional—Diario Político Literario y Comercial of Montevideo, instalments in translation of this work.

13 MacCann, , Two Thousand Miles’ Ride, 1, vii.Google Scholar

14 Cordero, op. cit., p. 158. Translation from original Spanish mine.

15 Mansfield, , Paraguay, Brazil and the Plate, Preface, p. viii.Google Scholar

16 Koebel, W.H., British Exploits in South America (New York, 1917), p. 461.Google Scholar