The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Italies of British Travellers: An Annotated Anthology

by Manfred Pfister (Editor)

This is the first anthology of British travel writing on Italy which traces the development of the genre and the history of the British perception of Italy from the Renaissance to the present. As an anthologie raissonnee it presents the texts in thematic clusters and chronological order, providing commentary and annotations for each of them and their nearly hundred authors (some of them, like Smollett, Byron, Dickens or Huxley, well-known, others virtually unknown, amongst them many unduly neglected women writers). Further features are a substantial introduction to the travelogue and the writing of Italy, more than thirty illustrations visualizing the British experience of Italy, and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources.

554 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Emma]

Great book if you love Italy, history, writers and travel. One BIG problem though even in paperback form its miles to heavy and big to take along. A digital edition could do wonders.
It's the type of stuff you would like to check at the end of the day of travelling or help you decide where next? It not a guide. In no way. It is acollection of comments of writers and ravellers before you, on what you yoirself have seen, want to experience or never will see. Its a travel companion, in a non portable size.