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|  | |  | | | A Traveller's Companion to Venice (The Traveller's Companion Series) | | | | | SKU:
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Out of stock | | | | | | Bringing to life Florence's glorious history in first-hand accounts. Reactions to Venice have been, throughout the ages, astonishingly different. Henry James wrote passionately: "You desire to embrace it, to caress it, to possess it..." whereas Mark Twain found St. Mark's "so ugly...Propped on its long row of thick-legged columns, its back knobbed with domes, it seem like a vast, warty bug taking a medieval walk." In this dazzling anthology, James and Twain along with the writings of Byron, Goethe, Wagner, Casanova, Jan Morris, Robert Browning, and Horace Walpole, among many others, are all featured. Ranging from the days of the sixth century, when the early lagoon-dwellers lived "like sea-birds, in huts built on heaps of osiers" to the exquisite city of eighteenth-century revelers and nineteenth-century art lovers-the city's many different guises are revealed as its inhabitants and visitors saw them. This favorite volume from the Traveller's Companion series also contains maps, engravings, and notes on history, art and architecture, and everyday city life. Highly entertaining and informative. | | | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Paperback: | 432 pages | | Publisher: | Interlink Pub Group Inc | | Publication Date: | 2002-08 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 1566564654 | | Product Length: | 7.98 inches | | Product Width: | 4.96 inches | | Product Height: | 1.11 inches | | Product Weight: | 0.83 pounds | | Package Length: | 7.7 inches | | Package Width: | 5.1 inches | | Package Height: | 1.1 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.93 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 3 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 3 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
A colorful anthology Sep 26, 2007
By Rob Atkinson
"Robsbooks"
I bought this anthology in the months prior to a trip to Venice, after reading editor John Julius Norwich's excellent "A History of Venice", to which it makes a terrific companion volume. These first-hand historical accounts present a colorful review of divergent viewpoints on "La Serinissima", from its distant origins in the Dark Ages up through the 20th century.
Though billed as a "traveller's companion", this is not a guide book in any sense of the phrase; rather, it serves to give one a sense of the history and character of the city and its most prominent features through letters, journals, and essays spanning the nearly 1400 years of its existence. Amongst the commentators are humorists like Mark Twain, great eccentrics like Thomas Coryat, litterateurs such as Henry James and aesthetes like John Ruskin -- and their contrasting views create a multifaceted portrait of this unique city, full of surprises and compulsively readable.
For those who want a sense of the hidden history and culture under the dazzling surface of Venice, who want to more deeply appreciate the city and its sights while experiencing them, this collection is highly recommended.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
This should be required reader for any visitor to Venice! Mar 11, 2007
By Lydia Joyce
Lord Norwich is a consumate storyteller with an incredible ability to weave various sources of information into a compelling narrative--or in this case, a series of anecdotes. I can hardly recommend this highly enough. His choices of material are brilliant, his narration masterful, and the overall sense of place perfectly fitted to the Most Serene Republic.
Also not to miss is his A History of Venice and Paradise of Cities: Venice In the 19th Century. The letters written by Euphemia Ruskin inspired several characters in my second novel!
Venice for Pleasure is useful for the traveler or writer, as well, as is Jan Morris' The World of Venice.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Take this if you're going to Venice! May 04, 2008
By Nom de Guerre
"miraxterrick"
I read this book cover-to-cover before, during, and after a recent trip to Venice. I have to say that more than any of the other books about Venice that I looked at, this one had the most profound and positive impact on my trip and understanding of the city. No, it certainly won't tell you where to stay or eat, and you probably won't find yourself looking up churches and museums in it like you might in the Blue Guide or some other book. But the centuries of travelers' observations compiled in its pages will bring color and life to the city and its monuments and public spaces in a way that no single guide or history could. The passages in this book are not merely informative; they are also highly engaging and range from touchingly serious to laugh-out-loud funny. If you are going to Venice, or if you merely want to travel there from your armchair, get this book before you even consider getting any other!
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