This title was first published in 2001: Hundreds of European travelogues produced by British travellers between 1750 and 1800 remain out of sight in most libraries and have generally been out of print since the 18th century. While many people with a working knowledge of the 18th century are familiar with works including Sterne's "A Sentimental Journey" and Smollett's "Travels through France and Italy", those produced by less "literary" travellers are largely unknown. This study aims to recreate the world of 18th-century travel writing in order to illuminate its central role in shaping Britain's emerging sense of national identity - an identity which proves to be more complex an less homogeneous than some cultural and historical studies would suggest.

Introduction; 1: The world, the texts and the critics; 2: Class, character and controversy in the 1760s and 1770s; 3: Sentimental travels: 'so much the ton '; 4: The rise of the woman travel writer; 5: Revolution and revision: the 1790s; 6: Epilogue