Edinburgh to Hungary

(Edinburgh) Jupiter Artland

Edinburgh, Scotland

Jupiter Artland map, after 2009

Jupiter Artland is an award-winning contemporary sculpture garden located just outside Edinburgh. Founded in 2009 by philanthropist art collectors Robert and Nicky Wilson, Jupiter Artland, which was in part inspired by Ian Hamilton Finlay's Little Sparta, has grown into one of Scotland's most significant arts organizations. This lovely map was found with other garden plans belonging to Ian Hamilton Finlay—if you look in the top left corner, you will see his Temple of Apollo.

Graeme Moore collection of Ian Hamilton Finlay material, 1972-2013, Ms. Coll. 1386

Egypt watercolors in travel diary

Egypt

Reginald Augustus Warren in Egypt, 1844-1845

This self-portrait of Reginald Augustus Warren (1820-1911), a British solicitor, was drawn during a six-month journey which took him from England to Egypt, and concluded with a trip to Jerusalem by caravan. While in Egypt, Warren wrote about, and drew, many sights in Cairo, Alexandria and along the Nile. The illustrations are vivid and spectacular, but we were particularly taken with this self-portrait of him wearing a fez. 

Reginald Augustus Warren diaries, 1844-1845, Ms. Coll. 920

(Everglades) The secret of the Everglades : a story of adventure in Florida

Everglades, Florida

The secret of the Everglades : a story of adventure in Florida, by Bessie Marchant. Rahway, N.J.: Mershon Co., [between 1902 and 1905?]

“Traveling was very bad in the Everglades…”  Alligators, malaria, snakes, swamp fever, mosquitoes, and a steady diet of eel-broth, snipe-broth and young alligator soup all feature prominently in this book. Throw in a father allegedly eaten by an alligator, but, in fact, sold to a Seminole chief by his dastardly business partner (who runs a hotel where everyone gets sick and almost dies) and we are absolutely convinced that, yes, travel was very, very bad in the Everglades. Did we mention the alligators?

Caroline F. Schimmel Fiction Collection of Women in the American Wilderness, Schimmel Fiction 3059.

(Fontainebleau): Sketchbook of architecture

Fontainebleau, France

Sketchbook of architecture, 1829

We don't know who drew this gorgeous picture in this equally gorgeous sketchbook. The drawings of French churches, building facades, monuments, and sculptures are all architectural. The captions are written in French, suggesting that the artist was either a citizen of France—or a zealous tourist. All we know for certain is that Fontainebleau is a lovely place to take your horse for a swim!

Sketchbook of architecture, 1827-1843, Ms. Coll. 1042

(France) Pinḳas ... poh Bisha, 1798-1799. = פנקס ... פה בישא, 1798-1799

France

Pinḳas ... Bisha, by Avraham Friemann, 1798-1799 = 1798-1799 פנקס ... פה בישא

The Bischheim Pinḳas documents circumcision ceremonies performed by Avraham Freimann, a Bohemian mohel who lived in Bischheim, today a commune in the Bas-Rhin department and Grand Est region of northeastern France. Freimann’s work took him to villages, towns, and cities across Germany and the Alsace region in northeastern France. Pictured is an entry telling of the German invasion of Bischheim during the War of the First Coalition between France and an alliance of European powers (1792-1797).

Moldovan Family Judaica Collection, CAJS Rar Ms 493

(France) Seder shel Rosh ha-Shanah ke-minhag ḳahal ḳodesh Ḳarpinṭrats / yagen Hashem baʻadam amen ... a.y. ha-poʻel bi-milekhet ha-ḳodesh ʻImanuʼel b.r. Gad de-Mileyav t.m.k. ... = סדר של ראש השנה כמנהג קהל קדש קארפינטרץ / יגן השם בעדם אמן ... ע"י הפועל במלאכת הקדש עמנואל ב"ר גד דמילייאב תמ"ך ...

France

Seder shel Rosh ha-Shanah ke-minhag ḳahal ḳodesh Ḳarpinṭrats, written by ʻImanuʼel ben Gad de Milhaud in the year 5460 [1699 or 1700] = סדר של ראש השנה כמנהג קהל קדש קארפינטרץ / יגן השם בעדם אמן ... ע"י הפועל במלאכת הקדש עמנואל ב"ר גד דמילייאב תמ"ך ...

The Carpentras Maḥzor is a manuscript of Rosh Hashanah prayers in the rite of the community of Carpentras, today a commune in the department of Vaucluse in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France. Carpentras was one of four Jewish communities in Provence (along with Avignon, Cavaillon and L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue) known to be havens for escapees from the Spanish Inquisition, and where customs from Spain, including rites of prayer, were preserved. The manuscript is written in Provençal semi-cursive Hebrew script with vocalization.

Moldovan Family Judaica Collection, CAJS Rar Ms 483

(Germany) President Eisenhower trip to Germany with Thomas Sovereign Gates, Jr. accompanying

Germany

Photograph of President Eisenhower's trip to Germany, 1959

At the height of the Cold War, President Dwight D. Eisenhower made a mistake. He had agreed to meet with Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev at the end of 1959, but only if the Soviets met certain conditions. Unfortunately, the conditions got lost in translation—literally. The meeting was scheduled, the Soviets were under no obligation to lessen the threat they posed to West Berlin, and Western European leaders were furious. Eisenhower, along with Secretary of Defense Thomas Sovereign Gates, Jr., quickly set off for Germany, England and France to allay fears that the United States was planning to bargain away their security. This photo, taken on August 26, 1959, shows Eisenhower arriving in Bonn, where he was greeted by West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and over 100,000 cheering supporters. Moments after landing, he addressed the West Germans, promising that the United States would continue to support them and that they would not be excluded from talks with the Soviets. Eisenhower and Gates next traveled to London and then to Paris to deliver the same message to their British and French allies.

Thomas Sovereign Gates, Jr. papers, 1902-1987, Ms. Coll. 1135

(Germany): Meturgeman : Lexicon Chaldaicum, quo nullum hactenus a' qvoqvam absolutius æditum est / authore Eliia Levita

Germany

Meturgeman: Lexicon Chaldaicum, by Elijah Levita. Isny im Allgäu: Paulus Fagius, August 1541

The Meturgeman of Elijah Levita is among the first Hebrew books printed in Germany. This copy remains in its original binding with clasps. It has a dedication from Paul Fagius, the printer (and prominent scholar), to his teacher, Wolfgang Fabricius Capito, a German Protestant reformer and peer of Martin Luther, when Capito was in Strasbourg. It also contains provenance marks of other areas in Northern France and Germany: Jena, Alt Breisach in the Alsace, and Colmar. There are ten steps of provenance discovered for this volume!

PJ4835 L40 1541

Greece, handbook for travellers

Greece

Greece, handbook for travellers : with 11 maps, 25 plans, and a panorama of Athens, by Karl Baedeker. Leipzig, K. Baedeker ; New York, C. Scribner's sons ..., 1905

Any fan of E.M. Forster's A Room with a View knows it is truly debatable as to whether one should or should not travel with a Baedeker! Regardless of whether you are in the Lucy/Charlotte or side with Eleanor, it is clear that the Baedeker was a must-have for most British travelers abroad. Let Baedeker be your guide to the wonders of Greece--we won't tell the indomitable Eleanor Lavish!

DF716 .B22 1905

(Halston): A Tour in Wales

Halston, Wales

A Tour in Wales, by Thomas Pennant. London: Printed by H. Hughes, 1778

The author of this picturesque volume shows the traveler "the tamer parts of our country," while promising that a later volume would explore "wild and romantic scenery!" If you were a tourist in 1778, you were probably the genteel sort who wanted to see abbeys, bridges, castles, courts, palaces, river views, and city views--and that is just what you would have gotten in this volume. We picked Halston because it is beautiful, looks peaceful, and is the perfect location, in our opinion, for a picnic.

DA727 .P41 1778

(Hawaii): En’yō kōkai (遠洋航海)

Hawaii

En’yō kōkai (遠洋航海), 1922-1923

The Training Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Renshū Kantai 練習艦隊, operated from 1903-1940. Graduates of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy (Kaigun Heigakkō 海軍兵学校)—and from 1921 onward, graduates of the Naval Engineering Academy (Kaigun Kikan Gakkō 海軍機関学校) and the Naval Paymasters Academy (Kaigun Keiri Gakkō 海軍経理学校)—would spend several months in training deployment largely throughout the Pacific Ocean and beyond. One of their stops was Hawaii, with a visit to the beach at Waikiki!

En’yō kōkai (遠洋航海), 1922-1923, Ms. Coll. 1267

(Hungary): Die eröffnete königliche ober hungarische Kuppfer-Handlung Schmölnitz, so wohl nach ihren inner-als aüsserlichen harmoniren den wesentlichen Theilen und Stücken ... [etc.] [manuscript].

Hungary

Die eröffnete königliche ober hungarische Kuppfer-Handlung Schmölnitz, so wohl nach ihren inner-als aüsserlichen harmoniren den wesentlichen Theilen und Stücken ... [etc.] [manuscript], 1743

This 18th-century manuscript of a technical work on the mining of copper in Schmölnitz (at the time in Hungary, later Smolnik in Slovakia) includes a description of smelting, with details on specific chemicals and processes, and a beautiful pen-and-wash foldout map showing the operations at Smolnik from the north, with a peak in the background labeled Spizen-Berg.  You might not think of a copper mining town as a tourist destination, but Englishman John Paget (who married the divorced wife of a Hungarian baron) disagreed, writing, “At Schmölnitz we were again in a mining district, and I was glad to avail myself of an opportunity I had missed at Neusohl, of seeing the process of extracting copper from the cementwasser … Schmölnitz itself is the prettiest of the mining towns we had yet seen … On the Sunday morning, as we were preparing to leave, the streets were crowded with well-dressed miners coming from church ; the women still retaining their German costume, though the men were all in hussar jackets, and booted and spurred as well as the best Magyar in the country” (Hungary and Transylvania; with remarks on their condition, social, political and economical, London:  J. Murray, 1839).

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection, LJS 402

Facsimile