The legendary Victorian traveler's previously unpublished letters to her homebound sister.

In the early nineteenth century, when the Hudson’s Bay Company sent men to its furthest posts along the coast of North America’s Pacific Northwest, the letters of those who cared for those men followed them in the Company’s supply ships. Sometimes, these letters missed their objects – the men had returned to Britain, or deserted their ships, or died. The Company returned the correspondence to its London office and over the years amassed a file of “undelivered letters.” Many of these remained sealed for 150 years and until they were opened by archivist Judith Hudson Beattie, when the Company archives were moved to Canada. These letters tell the fascinating stories of ordinary people whose lives are rarely recounted in traditional histories. Beattie and Helen M. Buss skilfully introduce us to both the lives of the letter writers and their would-be recipients. Their commentaries frame, for contemporary readers, the words of early nineteenth century working and middle class British folk as well as letters to “voyageurs” from Quebec. The stories of their lives – fathers struggling to support a family, widowed mothers yearning to see their sons, bereft sweethearts left behind, and wives raising their children alone – reach out over two centuries to offer rare insight into the varied worlds of men and women in the early nineteenth century, many of whom became settlers in Washington, Oregon, and the new British colony of Vancouver Island.

A uniquely British twist on the goofy letters-to-strangers genre, this brilliant compilation chronicles one man's outrageous and bizarre letters--to trade groups, department stores, clubs, political parties, and a certain children's book publisher--and the amazing responses he received to his ideas, observations, and unsolicited feedback. Asking countless questions, such as Would the Campaign for Courtesy be interested in his 10-Point Plan for a Courteous Britain? Could the Ball & Roller Bearing Manufacturers Association contact his "ball-bearing mad" son to suggest that he scale back his 95,000-piece collection? and Might Madame Tussaud's be interested in creating a wax likeness of him in a toga?, the book reveals the courteous and often bemused correspondence between the imaginative time waster and his unsuspecting targets, all of whom only encouraged him further. Hilarious and off-the-wall, this volume will have fellow schemers laughing out loud--and reaching for their pens.

Travel writing has a long history, the accounts as varied as the reasons why people travel.Although most travel publications of the eighteenth century were written by men, those by women, perhaps most famously Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, were also widely read. The Travel Journals of Henrietta Marchant Liston: North America & Lower Canada, 1796–1800 consists of the nine journals that Mrs. Liston kept while she and her husband Robert Liston, the minister from Great Britain (1796-1800), resided in Philadelphia, at that time the capital of the United States. Mrs. Liston wrote her journals (which, with one exception, have never been published) for her personal use as an aide-memoire to share with family and friends. To experience this middle-aged woman’s adventurous spirit as she and her husband travel as far south as Charleston, South Carolina and as far north as Quebec, Canada—long before the transportation conveniences and superhighways of modern-day travel—can only be termed amazing. Full of zest, her writing abounds with “you-are-there” moments. Mrs. Liston was genuinely curious about the New World: she wanted to learn about the different regions, to interact with the people who lived there, and to visit its natural wonders. She was astonished by the variety of the North American landscape, particularly its flora. Each journal has an introduction to put Mrs. Liston’s narrative in historical context. She is an intelligent and discerning guide to the eastern part of North America at a time of territorial expansion, of dispossession of Indian Nations from their territories by settlers, and of international upheavals. She and Robert Liston, a seasoned diplomat, observed and participated in the tumultuous events of the last years of the eighteenth century: the resignation of President George Washington and the orderly transfer of power to the next elected president; the “Quasi War” with France; and the rise of the political party system, to name but a few. Mrs. Liston’s description of their friendship with President and Mrs. Washington is clear-eyed as well as deeply appreciative, bringing those historical figures to life. Mrs. Liston’s engaging writing will win the hearts of all readers. For more on this topic, please visit the author's website at www.inthewordsofwomen.com. NEW from the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, a video about Henrietta M. and Robert Liston in the United States: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1kQTNScjiA. Also see the new website for digitized images and transcriptions of Mrs. Liston’s journals: http://digital.nls.uk/travels-of-henrietta-liston/.