The Lure of the North

A nineteenth-century Scandinavian travelogue in three parts, celebrating the 175th anniversary of The London Library

If you give anything to a Norwegian (old meat tins are always thankfully received), he will give your hand a silent grip more expressive than many words

The Victorian passion for travel reached the far North in the nineteenth century, and many of the intrepid explorers were attracted by 'the advantages of accessibility, freedom, foreign travel, grand scenery, and, last but not least, comparative cheapness'.

'Six in Norway with a Snark', 'Unprotected Females in Norway' and 'Notes on Norway' all give, in their very different ways, a rounded view of the foreign traditions, language and landscapes encountered in the North in the nineteenth century.

The Lure of the North is part of 'Found on the Shelves', published with The London Library. The books in this series 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 17 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.

Autorentext

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.

From the Trade Paperback edition.