Travel manuals
Travel manuals provided travelers with lists of places organised in itineraries with distances among them. This way of capturing space for practical purposes proves to be more popular than mapping at least until the end of the 17th century. Travel manuals appear in two forms 1. as books, generally of really small dimensions (here Sommaire description de la France…), 2. as parts of guidebooks (demonstrated here on Francesco Scoto´s Nuovo itinerario d´Italia). There have already been attempts to map these manuals, but only digital web cartography allows to go much further: It is demonstrated by a comparison of Herbert Krüger’s work on Jörg Gail and the geodatabase of all the travel manuals processed in the Beyond the Horizon project.
The routes described by Jörg Gail in 1563, in one of the earliest travel manuals published in Central Europe, were mapped by Herbert Krüger in his 1974 book (Das älteste deutsche Routenhandbuch. Jörg Gails “Raißbüchlin” [1563]. Graz). The swipe function allows you to compare the differences between Krüger´s digitized map and the mapped geodatabase compiling locations from travel manuals processed as part of the Beyond the Horizon project. This window demonstrates the methodological and technological potential of the current digital humanities.
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Itinerarium nobiliorum Italiae regionum, urbium, oppidorum, et locorum or (Nuovo) Itinerario overo nova descrittione de´ viaggi principali d´Italia by Francesco Scoto (Franz Schott) ranks among the most popular early modern guidebooks. It was issued in numerous editions from 1600 to 1761 in Latin, Italian, French and English in varous cities in Italy, the Low Countries, Germany, France and Great Britain. A travel manual was also included. The dataset covering selected editions is available on zenodo.org/records/19909381
Roma: Filippo de Rossi, 1650; Czech National Library, Prague, sign. 19 H 82
This list was compiled based on DE BEER, Esmond Samuel (1942): Francois Schott´s Itinerario d´Italia. The library 23, p. 57–83, Valente, Giuseppina (2009): “L’itinerario d’Italia di Franz Schott: un prototipo seicentesco della guida per il viaggio in Italia.” In Itinerario, overo nova descrizzione de’ viaggi principali d’Italia nella quale si ha piena notizia di tutte le cose più notabili et degne d’esser vedute, di Andrea Scoto, novamente tradotto dal latino in lingua italiana, et accresciuto di molte cose, che nel latino non si contengono, edited by Giuseppina Valenti, Edizioni digitali CISVA, available online: https://viaggio-adriatico.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/itinerario_italia_schott.pdf and the survey undertaken within the Beyond the Horizon Project.
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The italian travel manual by Ottavio Codogno ranks among the most popular books of this genre Europewide; it was published - entitled Nuovo itinerario or Compendio delle poste - from 1608 to 1666.
Milano: Girolamo Bordoni, 1616; Czech National Library, Prague, sign. 19 M 38
This list was compiled based on FEDELE, Clemente – GEROSA, Marco – SERRA, Armando (edd.) (2014): Europa Postale: L’Opera di Ottavio Codogno luogotenente dei Tasso nella Milano settecentesca. Camerata Cornello, and the survey undertaken within the Beyond the Horizon Project.
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The travel manual by Giuseppe Miselli was originally published in Italian, under Il bvrattino veridico overo, instruzione generale per chi viaggia, and later in German entitled Gründlicher Unterricht vor Reisende in Europa, from 1682 to 1699.
The Italian edition Roma: Nicolò L'Hulliè, 1684. Czech National Library, Prague, sign. 19 K 54.
The German edition Leipzig: Friedrich Christian Coelius, 1687. Czech National Library, Prague, sign. 19 K 31.
This list was compiled based on LUCCICHENTI, Furio (1993): Giuseppe Miselli: Autobiografia (1637–1674): la vita di un corriere. Roma, p. 103, and the survey undertaken within the Beyond the Horizon Project.
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Sommaire description de la France… is a true compillation of prior-to-1591 travel manuals. It was completed by Théodore Turquet de Mayerne, a future respected scholar and physician, in his early career years. It saw several editions from 1591 to 1690.
Köln: Jacob Stoer, 1618. Moravian Library, Brno, sign. STS-0170.013. This copy belonged to a Bohemian nobleman Johann Georg Joachim Slavata as shown by his signature on the title page.
This list was compiled based on FORDHAM, Herbert George (1920): The Earliest French Itineraries 1552 and 1591; Charles Estienne and Theodore de Mayerne-Turquet. The Library 1, 1920, pp. 193–223; FORDHAM, Herbert George (1929): Les routes de France … suivi d’un catalogue des Itinéraires et Guide-Routiers, 1552–1850. Paris, and the survey undertaken within the Beyond the Horizon Project.