PLEASURE TOURS. The Pleasure Tours in Ireland

“BOOKSELLERS - THE TRUE PATRONS OF LITERATURE”

[PLEASURE TOURS] The Pleasure Tours in Ireland. With a map, an itinerary on a new plan, &c. &c. Edinburgh: Printed for John Thomson. London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy. Dublin: Cumming & Wakeman, 1825. Crown octavo. pp. xiii, [1], 258, 96 (Itinerary), 97-101 (Index). Contemporary half red morocco over marbled boards, title in gilt direct on spine. Minor wear to extremities. A very good copy. Very rare.

COPAC locates 3 copies only. The NLS copy lacking map. WorldCat 2. Not in Bradshaw or Gilbert. The bookseller and publisher John Thomson dedicated this work to the ‘Booksellers in the Kingdom of Ireland’ and states “Dr. Johnson, Gibbon the historian, and many others, said truly, that Booksellers were the true patrons of literature ... This Book on the Beauties, Antiquities, Political Institutions, &c. &c. of Ireland, contains a variety of information, which can only be found in a number of volumes; and it is here arranged on a new and methodical principle, that the traveller may have before him a monitor of everything interesting, as he passes along, on the right or left, or on the road on which he travels”. The tours included: Dublin; Belfast to Giant’s Causeway; Mountains of Wicklow; The Lakes of Killarney. There are also chapters on the Statistics of Ireland and Speeches of Mr. Canning and Mr. Peel on the great question of Catholic Emancipation.