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Details
GRAND TOUR – Francis Drake (1721-1795). Manuscript copy of his 'Remarks on his Travels', a journal of his Grand Tour in Italy, 1750-51, an attractive copy in an elegant 18th-century hand, with an appendix of translations from Guicciardini of speeches from Italian history, approx 420 pages, 4to (233 x 184mm), chiefly on rectos with apposite classical quotations added on facing versos, in 3 volumes, 4to. Contemporary vellum boards, title stamped on spine, gilt edges.
Drake's travels in Italy, which began on 6 November 1750, were extensive, taking him along the coast from Antibes and Monaco to San Remo, Savona and Genoa, before heading south through Porto Fino to Pisa, Siena, Rome and the nearby towns, then south for an extensive exploration of Naples and its environs, including Herculaneum, Capri and Ischia, Baia and Pozzuoli. He then returns north via Florence and Lucca to Bologna, Ferrara, Padua, Venice, Vicenza, Verona, Milan, Parma, Mantua and Turin. His journal, written in the form of a letter to a travelling companion, was written up in 1755-56 after his return to England: it pays close attention to local customs and sights, to history and classical survivals, and to the art and architecture of the towns he visits – his attention to works of art extends to sketches of the picture hangs in the palaces and galleries he visits.
Drake's journal remains unpublished, but was referred to in print as early as 1807 in The British Critic, where a review of a collection of essays by Nathan Drake (presumably a relative) expresses a wish to see it published. References in more recent works on the Grand Tour (including Rosemary Sweet, Cities and the Grand Tour: the British in Italy, c.1690-1820 (2012), Jeremy Black, Italy and the Grand Tour (2003) and Bruce Redford, Venice and the Grand Tour (1996)) apparently derive from the 19th-century copy held in a collection of Drake's papers at Magdalen College, Oxford (MC:F15/J1/1-2), where Drake was a fellow. A further 18th-century copy, also originating with the Drake deposit at Magdalen, was acquired by York Archives and Local History in 2011. The present elegant copy, in its appealing 18th-century binding, was also undoubtedly executed within the author's lifetime.
Drake's travels in Italy, which began on 6 November 1750, were extensive, taking him along the coast from Antibes and Monaco to San Remo, Savona and Genoa, before heading south through Porto Fino to Pisa, Siena, Rome and the nearby towns, then south for an extensive exploration of Naples and its environs, including Herculaneum, Capri and Ischia, Baia and Pozzuoli. He then returns north via Florence and Lucca to Bologna, Ferrara, Padua, Venice, Vicenza, Verona, Milan, Parma, Mantua and Turin. His journal, written in the form of a letter to a travelling companion, was written up in 1755-56 after his return to England: it pays close attention to local customs and sights, to history and classical survivals, and to the art and architecture of the towns he visits – his attention to works of art extends to sketches of the picture hangs in the palaces and galleries he visits.
Drake's journal remains unpublished, but was referred to in print as early as 1807 in The British Critic, where a review of a collection of essays by Nathan Drake (presumably a relative) expresses a wish to see it published. References in more recent works on the Grand Tour (including Rosemary Sweet, Cities and the Grand Tour: the British in Italy, c.1690-1820 (2012), Jeremy Black, Italy and the Grand Tour (2003) and Bruce Redford, Venice and the Grand Tour (1996)) apparently derive from the 19th-century copy held in a collection of Drake's papers at Magdalen College, Oxford (MC:F15/J1/1-2), where Drake was a fellow. A further 18th-century copy, also originating with the Drake deposit at Magdalen, was acquired by York Archives and Local History in 2011. The present elegant copy, in its appealing 18th-century binding, was also undoubtedly executed within the author's lifetime.
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