History of a Six Weeks’ Tour (Shelley)

Shelley, Mary& Percy. History of a Six Weeks’ Tour through a part of France, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland: with letters descriptive of a sail round the Lake of Geneva, and of the glaciers of Chamouni. Published by: T. Hookham, London, 1817. Shelley’s History of a Six Weeks’ Tour is a text that is comprised of three parts: journal entries, letters, and a poem. This volume is a journal that tells of the travelling that Mary and Percy Shelley, and Claire Clairmont, Mary Shelley’s stepsister, took throughout Europe. This travel narrative is composed of a series of landmarks that the author, spouse, and stepsister see throughout their journey around Europe. The theme of “landmarks” are represented by both the places being described, and by a point in the author’s life in which she was able to experience different parts of the world. The descriptions in the narrative are raw in a sense in that they are not “perfect” edited prose. The narrative contributes to British women’s literature, by giving a unique perspective of what three young travelers must have felt while touring through Europe. Their descriptions, while sometimes brash and unrefined give a real sense of a true travel diary, incomplete, messy, and full of anecdotal prose. The book has blue on blue cover with gold stripes looks like a journal would. The spine of the book is surprisingly ornate, it boasts gold blocked patterns that frame the title and the publishing date. The words on the pages themselves are simple; not elegant in the traditional sense, but the plainness speaks volumes. The unremarkable form of the book suggests the desire for an anonymous or even masculine identity, so that the book could reach a large audience. The edition described previously had no author on the title page; therefore, it suggests that a woman’s authorship might have hindered its distribution and reception from the public. Interestingly, the original text was republished in 1840 with a collection of Percy Shelley’s writings.