Description

Tour through England, the travel journal of Princess Izabela Czartosyska inaugurates the series Sources for art history, dedicated to the publication of original, historical documents. The journal is a unique record of observations and personal connections made in the summer of 1790 by Czartoryska, a major patron, gardening expert and political figure in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In an introductory essay, Agnieszka Whelan contextualizes the observations and expectations of Princess, and offers a perspective on the Polish reaction to Britain`s industrial revolution and agricultural reforms, urban developments and landscapes estates. The manuscript of the diary id preserved in the Czartoryski Library in Cracow, and is presented here in fascimile and in translation with extensive explanatory notes. The text is richly illustrated with views from guidebooks and topographical compendia available to tourists in England at the time of Czartoryska`s travel.