Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Memoranda of a journey overland, with Mr. Melville and Mr. Bax, from Bombay to London by the Red Sea, Egypt, Malta, Sicily, Italy, Switzerland, and France, commencing from Bombay, November 7, 1822

Authors

• Hull, William, 1778-1840

Other related names

• Hull, Mildred, transciber

Call number

Ms. Codex 1807
(3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6206, University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 9973007243503681
• http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/970042842
• https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p35t3g87q http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/pacscl/UPENN_RBML_PUSpMsCodex1807

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania

Origin

Date

1822-1823

Summary

This leather volume with a pattern-stamped cover contains the travel diary of William Hull. The volume traces his journey from Bombay (Mumbai), India to London, England spanning eight months from November 7, 1822 to July 17, 1823. The pages of the journal are numbered 1 to 105. Written at the top of each page is the city he visited. Hull recorded the names of people he encountered on the journey including governors, consuls, guides, and missionaries. He described the cities, major sites, experiences, and customs of the areas he visited. Departing from Bombay Hull noted each city on the voyage beginning with Mokah, Yemen and recorded the small cities along the Red Sea. A majority of the journal discusses his travels through Egypt and up the Nile River including Luxor, Cairo, Memphis, and Alexandria. The remainder of the diary records Hull's impressions of Malta, Sicily, Italy, Switzerland, and France. Highlights of Hull's travels include crossing the Egyptian desert by camel with details of riding the animals and experiencing a mirage. At sites in Egypt Hull discussed the mummies he saw at an excavation site in Luxor, the indigenous cave dwellers he encountered at a mountain site near Luxor who he referred to as troglodytes, recorded his observations of the pyramids at Giza, and noted the hieroglyphs and the library he saw at Alexandria. In Memphis Hull met Giovanni Battista Caviglia (1770-1845), who discovered the colossus statue of Ramses II. Hull recorded his meeting with Caviglia and his observations of the statue. Additionally, he listed the measurements of each portion of the colossus. Hull noted being quarantined at the lazaretto at Malta for thirty days before embarking on European portion of the journey. He provided detailed descriptions of the major cities and sights in Europe including Rome, the Vatican, and Paris. Written on the marbled endpaper at the beginning of the volume is "from Mildred Hull to William Hull, Feb. 15, 1827." Mildred was most likely Hull's wife. The volume is written in two hands as indicated by the note following below the title: "copied from my journal by Mrs. Hull to p. 77 and finished by me at West Mount Cottage, Sidmouth, Feb. 15, 1827." There are three pencil drawings on tracing paper depicting images of Egypt pasted in the volume. The drawings illustrate a man riding a camel, an encampment in the desert, and the obelisks at Luxor.

Extent

1 volume

Provenance

• Sold by Samuel Gedge (Mundesley, England), cat. 23 (2016), no. 10.
   
• Label on inside front cover: W. & J. Eddowes, printers & booksellers, Corn-market, Shrewsbury.
   

Subjects topical

• English diaries--19th century--Specimens
• English diaries--Male authors--19th century
• English diaries
• Male authors
• Egypt--Description and travel--19th century
• Egypt
• Sicily (Italy)--Description and travel--19th century
• Italy--Description and travel--19th century
• Switzerland--Description and travel--19th century
• France--Description and travel--19th century
• France
• Switzerland
• Italy
• Malta
• Malta--Description and travel--19th century

Genres

• Manuscripts, English--19th century
• Codices (bound manuscripts)
• Drawings (visual works)
• Pencil drawings
• Diaries
• Diaries
• Specimens

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts Ms. Codex 1807: Memoranda of a journey overland, with Mr. Melville and Mr. Bax, from Bombay to London by the Red Sea, Egypt, Malta, Sicily, Italy, Switzerland, and France, commencing from Bombay, November 7, 1822 are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

• Text

  Metadata is ©2024 University of Pennsylvania Libraries and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode