Richard Ford (1796 – 1858), art connoisseur and writer famed for his knowledge of and passion for Spain. Painting courtesy of Francis Ford.
A display of the art and letters of pioneering 19th century travel writer Richard Ford, known for his critically acclaimed but potentially inflammatory tourist guide to Spain, is today being added to the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Part of the John Murray Archive exhibition, the display will feature a rare first edition of 1840’s Handbook for Travellers in Spain.
The book was originally suppressed due to Ford’s friends' fears that his descriptions of Spain’s destruction at the hands of the French would cause offence. Also included is Ford’s lively correspondence with publisher John Murray regarding the controversy.
John Murray Archive Curator David McClay said: “Richard Ford is for me one of the most engaging and entertaining of letter writers in the John Murray Archive. His dramatic and emotional writings convey an honesty and passion not always evident in some other letter writers.”
Ford was a candid letter writer unafraid to include updates on the workings of his intestines in his correspondence. Image courtesy of the National Library of Scotland.
In the 1840s, people were only just beginning to have money and time available for leisure travel, and useful information on potential destinations was much harder to come by. The John Murray publishing house recognised this gap in the market and filled it with their red travellers’ handbooks series.
Ford’s handbook in particular was a huge success, with The Times deeming it '[one of] the best books of travel, humour, and history, social, literary, political and artistic, in the English language'.
