Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1853 (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
xvi, 221 ff. (original pagination 1-341 (with errors) continued to end; ff. iii verso-xvi verso and pp. 74-80, 301-321 blank) ; 195 x 135 mm.
Binding as NLW MS 21691B.
Context area
Name of creator
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Content and structure area
Scope and content
Illustrated journal of a tour of Belgium, Germany and parts of the Austrian Empire (now Austria and the Czech Republic), 19 August-17 September 1853, by Thomas Letts, accompanying his son Thomas Alton Letts to Vienna to take up a job at a printers in the city (pp. 1-60, 81-300).
The journal contains numerous anecdotes concerning individuals encountered on the journey, as well as descriptions of churches, cathedrals, castles and other sights visited. Letts travelled by carriage, rail and steamer, with cruises along the Rhine (pp. 84-92), the Danube (pp. 163-209) and the Vltava and Elbe (pp. 264-278). The itinerary included Calais (pp. 3-8), Gand [Ghent] (pp. 11-22), Anvers [Antwerp] (pp. 23-34, 38-51), Brussels (pp. 34-38), Cologne (pp. 56-60, 81), Koblenz (pp. 85-90), Wurzburg (pp. 107-119), Nuremberg (pp. 122-132), Munich (pp. 133-161), Ratisbon [Regensburg] (pp. 166-175), Walhalla (pp. 177-182), Passau (pp. 189-204), Vienna (pp. 209-238), Brunn [Brno] (pp. 240-252), Prague (pp. 252-264) and Berlin (pp. 284-287). The journal was partly written up during the journey but was only completed on 22 October 1853 (see p. 300); there are occasional later corrections and additions in pencil and ink. The volume also contains twenty-one pages of illustrations and sketches in pencil, watercolour and wash (pp. 61-73 passim, 234a, 322-340 passim) and another twenty-two thumbnail sketches and diagrams accompanying the text (pp. 15-299 passim). Also bound into the volume are copies of Ethelbert Müller, Donaustauf and Walhalla (Ratisbon, 1846), a tourist guide (pp. 343-428), and the 'Railway Chronicle Travelling Charts: Basingstoke, Winchester, Gosport' (pp. 429-430; a single leaf folded twenty-six times).
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Usual copyright laws apply.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Spine missing.
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Allied materials area
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Notes area
Note
Title based on contents.
Alternative identifier(s)
Alma system control number
Access points
Subject access points
- Belgium -- Description and travel
- Germany -- Description and travel
- Austria -- Description and travel
- Czech Republic -- Description and travel
- Railroads -- England -- Hampshire
- Rhine River -- Description and travel.
- Danube River -- Description and travel
- Vltava River (Czech Republic) -- Description and travel
- Elbe River (Czech Republic and Germany) -- Description and travel
Name access points
- Letts, Thomas Alton, 1838-1927 (Subject)
- Walhalla (Museum : Regensburg, Germany) (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English