Travels in Germany and Russia: Including a Steam Voyage by the Danube and the Euxine from Vienna to Constantinople, in 1838-39

Sir Adolphus Slade (1804-77), British naval officer and author, documents his experiences crossing Europe to Turkey in these detailed and richly worded travel journals. Having joined the Royal Navy at a young age, he was promoted to Lieutenant in 1827. Subsequently, he was posted on several missions to Turkey and Greece, in between which he would take the opportunity for personal travel and writing. This is one among several works recording his travels across Europe; he was later appointed administrative head of the Turkish Navy (his history of the Crimean War is also reissued in this series). This collection of accounts, first published in 1840, has a remarkably broad scope. Slade covers peculiarities and specificities of tradition, landscape, class, politics and architecture, often describing encounters with individuals. He draws comparisons with England, presenting the reader with a double cultural insight in a fascinating example of nineteenth-century travel writing.