Journal of a Tour made in Italy in the Winter of the Years 1819 and 1820
BVI 12
Catherine Antonina HINDE
Journal of a Tour made in Italy in the Winter of the Years 1819 and 1820Edited with Notes and Introduction by Madeline MERLINI
Biblioteca del Viaggio in Italia «Testi»
pp. 124
ISBN 978-88-7760-012-7
20.00 €
The hitherto anonymous manuscript which bears the hand-written title, Journal of a Tour made in Italy in the Winter of the Years 1819 and 1820, on the frontispiece has a more synthetic title on its elegant leather cover, namely, Six Month's (sic) in ltaly. The manuscript would appear to be written by a woman of the upper middle class if not of the aristocracy. She has evidently received the best education money could buy. Her knowledge of art and music is considerable while her knowledge of botany, and more surprisingly, marble, is outstanding. Her style is factual and does not appear to be that of a professional writer. The authoress herself would probably justify a certain jerkiness of style by re-asserting that the manuscript represents a day by day account of her activities. We may assume that she jotted down notes while she was travelling and some years later licked them into shape. It was not at all unusual for an English person to travel to Italy in 1819-1820 but the journey still constituted a once-in-a-lifetime experience worthy of being recorded in a so-called diary which was normally compiled at home on the basis of notes taken during the trip. From the internal evidence we immediately perceive that this was the case of the manuscript in question.
Sommario: Introduction - Notes - Six Month's In Italy - Notes – Index.