Volume 1

Italy: Volume 1

by John Cam Hobhouse

Published 20 July 2009
John Cam Hobhouse's 1859 publication provides a detailed account of his travels around Italy between 1816 and 1854. The two volumes contain informative descriptions of the places, people and politics of nineteenth-century Italy, and the reader will gain fascinating insights into the close relationship between Hobhouse and Lord Byron. Providing a mix of entertaining anecdotes and historical information, the volumes explore 'a country now made accessible by a few hours journey and familiar to us by every mode of illustration', acquainting the Victorian traveller (and now the modern reader) with the Italy 'of times long past'. Volume 1 begins with Hobhouse's journey from Switzerland to Italy in 1816 and records his impressions of cities including Milan, Verona, Venice and Rome.

Volume 1

John Cam Hobhouse, later Lord Broughton (1786-1869), became a friend of Byron when they were at Cambridge, and was frequently his travelling companion. He first published an account of their journey to Albania and Greece in 1814, and reissued this updated and corrected two-volume version in 1855, after his retirement from public life. (His memoirs are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.) In September 1809 Byron and Hobhouse were in Malta, and took the opportunity of a passing ship to go to Preveza in Epirus, making their way to the court of Ali Pasha, the 'tyrant of Ioannina'. Volume 1 continues the account of travels through Greece to Athens, and ends with a review of the modern Greek language and its emerging literature. During their journey, Byron was writing Childe Harold's Pilgrimage: on its publication in 1812, as he said, 'I awoke one morning and found myself famous'.

Volume 2

Italy: Volume 2

by John Cam Hobhouse

Published 20 July 2009
John Cam Hobhouse's 1859 publication provides a detailed account of his travels around Italy between 1816 and 1854. The two volumes contain informative descriptions of the places, people and politics of nineteenth-century Italy, and the reader will gain fascinating insights into the close relationship between Hobhouse and Lord Byron. Providing a mix of entertaining anecdotes and historical information, the volumes explore 'a country now made accessible by a few hours journey and familiar to us by every mode of illustration', acquainting the Victorian traveller (and now the modern reader) with the Italy 'of times long past'. Volume 2 focuses mainly on the churches, monuments, temples and ruins of Ancient Rome.

Volume 2

John Cam Hobhouse, later Lord Broughton (1786-1869), became a friend of Byron when they were at Cambridge, and was frequently his travelling companion. He first published an account of their journey to Albania and Greece in 1814, and reissued this updated and corrected two-volume version in 1855, after his retirement from public life. (His memoirs are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.) In September 1809 Byron and Hobhouse were in Malta, and took the opportunity of a passing ship to go to Preveza in Epirus, making their way to the court of Ali Pasha, the 'tyrant of Ioannina'. Volume 2 takes the travellers from Smyrna in Asia Minor and up the coast to Istanbul, where they had an audience with Sultan Mahmud II. During their journey, Byron was writing Childe Harold's Pilgrimage: on its publication in 1812, as he said, 'I awoke one morning and found myself famous'.

John Cam Hobhouse's 1859 publication provides a detailed account of his travels to Italy between 1816 and 1854. The two volumes contain informative descriptions of the places, people and politics of nineteenth-century Italy, and the reader will gain fascinating insights into the close relationship between Hobhouse and Lord Byron. The first volume covers a number of cities including Milan, Venice and Verona, while the second focuses on the churches, monuments, temples and ruins of Ancient Rome. Providing a mix of entertaining anecdotes and historical information, the volumes explore afresh 'a country now made accessible by a few hours journey and familiar to us by every mode of illustration', acquainting the modern traveller with the Italy 'of times long past'.