What do you think?
Rate this book
From Cornhill to Grand Cairo
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1846
About the author
William Makepeace Thackeray
4,568 books1,367 followersWilliam Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist, satirist, and journalist, best known for his keen social commentary and his novel Vanity Fair (1847–1848). His works often explored themes of ambition, hypocrisy, and the moral failings of British society, making him one of the most significant literary figures of the Victorian era.
Born in Calcutta, British India, he was sent to England for his education after his father’s death. He attended Charterhouse School, where he developed a distaste for the rigid school system, and later enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge. However, he left without earning a degree, instead traveling in Europe and pursuing artistic ambitions.
After losing much of his inheritance due to bad investments, Thackeray turned to writing for a living. He contributed satirical sketches, essays, and stories to periodicals such as Fraser’s Magazine and Punch, gradually building a reputation for his sharp wit and keen observational skills. His breakthrough came with Vanity Fair, a panoramic satire of English society that introduced the enduring character of Becky Sharp, a resourceful and amoral social climber.
Thackeray’s later novels, including Pendennis (1848–1850), The History of Henry Esmond (1852), and The Newcomes (1853–1855), continued to explore the lives of the English upper and middle classes, often focusing on the contrast between personal virtue and social ambition. His historical novel Henry Esmond was particularly praised for its detailed 18th-century setting and complex characterization.
In addition to his fiction, Thackeray was a noted public speaker and essayist, delivering lectures on the English humorists of the 18th century and on The Four Georges, a critical look at the British monarchy.
Despite his literary success, he lived with personal struggles, including the mental illness of his wife, Isabella, which deeply affected him. He remained devoted to his two daughters and was known for his kindness and generosity among his friends and colleagues.
His works remain widely read, appreciated for their incisive humor, rich characterizations, and unflinching critique of social pretensions.
Born in Calcutta, British India, he was sent to England for his education after his father’s death. He attended Charterhouse School, where he developed a distaste for the rigid school system, and later enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge. However, he left without earning a degree, instead traveling in Europe and pursuing artistic ambitions.
After losing much of his inheritance due to bad investments, Thackeray turned to writing for a living. He contributed satirical sketches, essays, and stories to periodicals such as Fraser’s Magazine and Punch, gradually building a reputation for his sharp wit and keen observational skills. His breakthrough came with Vanity Fair, a panoramic satire of English society that introduced the enduring character of Becky Sharp, a resourceful and amoral social climber.
Thackeray’s later novels, including Pendennis (1848–1850), The History of Henry Esmond (1852), and The Newcomes (1853–1855), continued to explore the lives of the English upper and middle classes, often focusing on the contrast between personal virtue and social ambition. His historical novel Henry Esmond was particularly praised for its detailed 18th-century setting and complex characterization.
In addition to his fiction, Thackeray was a noted public speaker and essayist, delivering lectures on the English humorists of the 18th century and on The Four Georges, a critical look at the British monarchy.
Despite his literary success, he lived with personal struggles, including the mental illness of his wife, Isabella, which deeply affected him. He remained devoted to his two daughters and was known for his kindness and generosity among his friends and colleagues.
His works remain widely read, appreciated for their incisive humor, rich characterizations, and unflinching critique of social pretensions.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 24, 2020
This account of a steamer journey around the Mediterranean, made in 1844 at the invitation of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, describes Thackrey's honest and often irreverent response to such landmarks of the ancient world as Athens, Constantinople, Jerusalem and Cario.
March 13, 2021
I have not read many travelogues, and certainly none from 1844, yet the recommendation of a friend led me to Thackeray’s “Notes on a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo," a chronicle of several months of travel by steamship from England to Cairo, via Lisbon, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Malta, Athens, Rhodes, Smyrna, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. Not having yet read his Vanity Fair, I also had no idea what to expect, but I found myself delighted. Millennials should beware that Thackeray, as a Victorian and not a romantic, has strong opinions and was writing when Britain was the acme of the “civilized” world (however large the asterisk that might appear after that word today), and the idea of political correctness would have never occurred to him. And although he could be scathing in his satires of Victorian smugness, arrogance, and ignorance, he seems to have been convinced of the superiority of English culture and English ways as he does not hesitate to lambaste whatever strikes him as crude, cruel, or hypocritical. Yet he is no English jingoist as he is equally unsparing of stupidity and boorish behavior among his fellow countrymen.
I enjoyed two aspects of his travelogue the most – the first was his unvarnished descriptions of what he saw – the ugliness alongside whatever beauty was there. Thus we see the beggars, the hawkers of touristic trinkets (yes, cultural tourism is far older than the 21st century), and the various local hustlers of the European tourists. I remember the crestfallen tone in my father’s voice when he told me how when he finally made it San Antonio, Texas, to see the Alamo, he found it across the street from a McDonald’s. Thus even in the mid-19th century, such wonders of the ancient world as the Greek Parthenon and Egyptian pyramids were already well on their way to what they are today – Disneyland for adults.
The other aspect I enjoyed was the detachment Thackeray had, the distance that enabled his critical eye as well as his appreciation for the genuine beauty to be found in sea, in sky, and in landscape. Though there are passages where he veers toward what Edward Said might have deemed Orientalism, Thackeray redeems himself with the unstinting honesty he shows toward all that his eye takes in, including his own thoughts and reactions. And as that world is long gone, and survives only in such texts, it is enlightening to visit.
I enjoyed two aspects of his travelogue the most – the first was his unvarnished descriptions of what he saw – the ugliness alongside whatever beauty was there. Thus we see the beggars, the hawkers of touristic trinkets (yes, cultural tourism is far older than the 21st century), and the various local hustlers of the European tourists. I remember the crestfallen tone in my father’s voice when he told me how when he finally made it San Antonio, Texas, to see the Alamo, he found it across the street from a McDonald’s. Thus even in the mid-19th century, such wonders of the ancient world as the Greek Parthenon and Egyptian pyramids were already well on their way to what they are today – Disneyland for adults.
The other aspect I enjoyed was the detachment Thackeray had, the distance that enabled his critical eye as well as his appreciation for the genuine beauty to be found in sea, in sky, and in landscape. Though there are passages where he veers toward what Edward Said might have deemed Orientalism, Thackeray redeems himself with the unstinting honesty he shows toward all that his eye takes in, including his own thoughts and reactions. And as that world is long gone, and survives only in such texts, it is enlightening to visit.
August 1, 2016
Well, little heavy on the anti-semitism and racism... but always fun to learn about traveling in a different time! Also got to read it in a 1907 edition where I had to cut the pages... so that was neat!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews