A Voyage in the Sunbeam

by Annie Allnutt Brassey, A.Y. Bingham (Illustrator)

Contains hand-drawn illustrations from Hon. A. Y. Bingham.

First published in 1878, A Voyage in the Sunbeam is a journal detailing the Brassey family’s voyage around the world. Annie Brassey delights in the mild Tahitian and Hawaiian breezes, shivers in the Japanese cold, and swelters in the Arabian heat. She struggles to keep down her breakfast sailing through the Straits of Magellan, and boldly marches her children up to the caldera of an active Hawaiian volcano. She suffers many hardships, but Brassey is undaunted, retaining a childlike wonder in the sights she sees.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Biography Memoir, Adventure

363 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1878

About the author

Anna "Annie" Brassey (née Allnutt), Baroness Brassey (7 October 1839 – 14 September 1887) was an English traveler and writer.

Reviews

[Artur Matos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the account of a trip around the world done by the author and her family on a schooner. This was in 1876, and although the family was obviously of very considerable means - they employed more than 40 sailors on board - it was no easy feat. Their travels took them from England to Madeira, Cape Verde, across the Atlantic to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, across the pacific to Tahiti and Hawai, and eventually to Japan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Egypt and back to England. Her account shows a world already at the verge of globalisation - in the pacific they are still worried about cannibals in places but most islanders, even in remote places, wear cotton dresses made in Manchester! All in all, an amazing and fascinating book, highly recommended.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a facinating journal of a trip around the world by the author, her husband, and four of their young children in 1876-77. What an amazing woman! Reading her reminds me of Amelia Peabody...always interested in everything around her, always organized. She suffers from sea-sickness but finds the best treatment is to focus on keeping busy and thinking of anything OTHER than the way the motion makes her feel. I find myself missing her now the book is ended.

[R.C.A. Nixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surely this is one of the great books of 19th century travel, written by one of England's most wealthy women as she voyaged around the world in sumptuous style. It's the 1870s, and Lady Brassey and her railroad baron husband, Thomas, and a crew of 40 sailors, governesses and household staff spent 11 months in a sailboat/steamer visiting the main cities of South America, Hawaii, Tahiti, Japan, China, Ceylon and many more stops. Everywhere she went, she met royalty and was treaty like royalty. She climbed mountains in the Canary Islands and walked across smoldering volcanoes in Hawaii mere hours before they erupted.

The Sunbeam mostly visited the known world, described by European explorers centuries earlier. Yet Lady Brassey brings a fresh perspective to the literature of travel, focusing on the many women she meets, their clothing, habits, living conditions, songs and dances that male travelers tended to skim over or ignore completely. Though she is very much the English lady, aware of her station, and sense of superiority, Brassey mostly describes without wrapping it in pompous opinion. Hers is an inquisitive nature, and she delights in what she sees. She brings a horticulturalist's eye to every garden and jungle she visits, and her descriptions of birds and animals are at least as good as Dampier's, and often more understandable than Darwin's Beagle findings.

A best-seller for decades after it was first published in 1878, you can still find dozens of different versions of A Voyage in the Sunbeam in various sizes, color, with or without maps and fascinating lithographic images. (I still own about six such copies, having given away about a dozen others as gifts to adventurous female friends and relatives.) Get your own copy!

[Edward Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I switched to the out-of-print Dover edition (isbn# 0486269442) because this one feels too much like a printed version of the free ebook edition of Leland's book that's floating around. This is a great book, I wish that somebody would reissue it properly, or even better, in a new edition with some extra editorial input.

[Brenda Clough · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine period account of Victorian voyaging around the world.

[Johnny Old Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read an original hardcover copy of this book. I think it was very widely printed, and copies are fairly common. I see it at Google Books as well. I recommend it highly.

For me it was the prefect sort of Old Book: well written, with some light moments, adventure, and a window into a very different time.

Mrs. Brassey gives us a delightful look at the world as it was in 1880.

[Romeo Favreau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trip around the world in the mid 1800.
English investor visiting his investments