WILD WALES: IT'S PEOPLE, LANGUAGES AND SCENERY.

Facsimile of the 1901 John Murray edition. Recently bound in full tan leather with red leather titles to the spine and raised Celtic knot designs to the upper and lower boards in red and tan leather and gilt. All edges red. Illustrated throughout in black and white by A. S. Hartrick. A fine copy, the binding square and tight, the leather clean and gilt fresh. The contents are clean and bright throughout and without inscriptions or stamps. Housed in a quarter tan leather and red cloth solander box, lettered to the spine in red leather and with the original dustwrapper laid in. An attractive craft binding.

George Borrow (1803-1881) was an English writer of travelogues and memoirs. He was born in Norfolk to Thomas Borrow, an army recruiting officer, and his wife Ann. As a military family they moved constantly, which provided the young, eccentric Borrow with experiences that instigated lifelong fascinations with travel, languages and the Romany people. Having travelled for long periods in Europe in his early adulthood, published two books on Spain in the 1840s and two semi-autobiographical novels centred on his travels and his relationship with Romany culture in the 1850s, Borrow settled in the UK in the 1850s to write and take long walking tours of his home country. 'Wild Wales' was produced following one such tour of Wales in 1954, and offers a characterful and enthusiastic description of Borrow's experiences with the Welsh people, way of life and landscape. Borrow was proud of and keen to exercise his ability to speak Welsh, and transcribes countless conversations with all manner of people encountered on his travels. His insights are particularly valuable to the modern reader as a snapshot of Wales as it was in the mid-nineteenth century. 'Wild Wales' helped to shape Victorian English people's perception of Wales, and is considered to offer a more favourable view than those of his contemporaries. The first edition was published in 1862 by John Murray. This facsimile edition reproduces the 1901 edition.