Letters From High Latitudes
Encyclopedia
Travel literature
Travel literature is travel writing of literary value. Travel literature typically records the experiences of an author touring a place for the pleasure of travel. An individual work is sometimes called a travelogue or itinerary. Travel literature may be cross-cultural or transnational in focus, or...
written by Lord Dufferin in 1856, recounting the young lord's journey to Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
, Jan Mayen
Jan Mayen
Jan Mayen Island is a volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean and part of the Kingdom of Norway. It is long and 373 km2 in area, partly covered by glaciers . It has two parts: larger northeast Nord-Jan and smaller Sør-Jan, linked by an isthmus wide...
and Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...
in the schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Foam.
When Dufferin was only 15 his father died. In consequence he developed a very close relationship with his mother. In the course of the voyage Dufferin created a diary in the form of
letters nominally written to his mother. On his return, Lord Dufferin used those letters to write a book about his travels entitled Letters From High Latitudes.
Lord Dufferin commissioned the schooner Foam with the first objective of visiting Iceland. He visited the then-minuscule Reykjavík, the plains of Þingvellir
Þingvellir
|Thing]] Fields) is a place in Bláskógabyggð in southwestern Iceland, near the peninsula of Reykjanes and the Hengill volcanic area. Þingvellir is a site of historical, cultural, and geological importance and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland. It is the site of a rift...
, and Geysir
Geysir
Geysir , sometimes known as The Great Geysir, was the first geyser described in a printed source and the first known to modern Europeans. The English word geyser derives from Geysir. The name Geysir itself is derived from the Icelandic verb geysa, "to gush", the verb from Old Norse...
. While he was at Geysir Napoleon III
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
arrived with his entourage. Upon his return to Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
Dufferin was invited to join Napoleon III aboard his royal steamer La Reine Hortense. Napoleon III offered that the Foam be towed north as the French were on an expedition to the same region. The collier traveling with La Reine Hortense was damaged which required the French to abandon their investigations. Dufferin then set sail for Jan Mayen Island where he had to land by a boat. He wrote that he left a tin of trinkets on the island. From Jan Mayen, the Foam sailed to northern Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, stopping at Hammerfest
Hammerfest
is a city and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The municipality encompasses parts of three islands: Kvaløya, Sørøya, and Seiland. Hammerfest was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838...
, before sailing for Spitsbergen.
With its irreverent style, lively pace, and witty commentary, the book became extremely successful. It can be regarded as the prototype of the comic travelogue
Travel literature
Travel literature is travel writing of literary value. Travel literature typically records the experiences of an author touring a place for the pleasure of travel. An individual work is sometimes called a travelogue or itinerary. Travel literature may be cross-cultural or transnational in focus, or...
. It remained in print for many years with editions published in both the United Kingdom and the United States. A Canadian edition was published while he was Governor General of Canada
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
. An abridged edition was published under the title A Cruise in Northern Seas. Translations were made into both French and German.
Despite his book's great success Lord Dufferin did not pursue a career in writing. Instead, he became a diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
, later serving as British ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. Subsequently he was appointed Governor General of Canada and after that term became Viceroy of India.
Frost On My Moustache by Tim Moore
Tim Moore (writer)
Tim Moore is a British travel writer and humorist. He was educated at Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith. In addition to his seven published travelogues to date, his writings have appeared in various publications including Esquire, The Sunday Times, The Independent, The Observer and the Evening...
is an account of a journey in which the author attempts to emulate Lord Dufferin's fearless spirit and enthusiastic adventuring, but comes to identify far more with Dufferin's permanently miserable butler, Wilson.
Publication history
Editions of Letters from High Latitudes include:- John Murray, London, 1857 (1st edition half-leather)
- John Murray, London, 1857 (2nd edition)
- John Murray, London, 1857 (3rd edition)
- John Murray, London, 1858 (4th edition)
- Ticknor and Fields, Boston, 1859 (1st edition)
- R. Worthington, New York, 1878 (3rd edition)
- Adam, Stevenson & Co., Toronto, 1872
- John Murray, London, 1873 (6th edition) (1st Canadian edition)
- Lovell, Adam, Wesson. & Company, New York, 1873
- Lovell, Adam, Wesson & Company, New York, (nd (188?) edition contains a Preface to the Third edition, as well as preface to Canadian edition)
- R. Worthington, New York,1882
- John Murray, London, 1883 (7th edition)
- John Murray, London, 1887 (8th edition)
- John Murray, London, 1891 (9th edition)
- Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig, 1891
- Wm. L. Allison Company, New York, 1895
- John Murray, London, 1895 (10th edition)
- John Murray, London, 1902 (11th edition)
- John Murray, London, 1903 (Canadian edition)
- J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., London, 1910
- John Murray, London, 1913 (Canadian edition; reprint)
- Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1924. Introduction by R.W. Macan
- Dent, London, 1925. Everyman's Library Volume 399
- Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1934 (The World's Classics)
- J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., London, 1940
- The Merlin Press, London. 1989 (paperback reprint of Canadian edition)
- Seafarer Books, 1991 (paperback facsimile of 1856 edition)
- Kessinger Publishing, 2004 (paperback)
- Lightning Source Inc, 2006
Edition of A Cruise in Northern Seas
- Henry Frowde, London 1920
External links
- Online version available from Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
.