Tour through England. Diary from travels around England and Scotland in 1790

Tour through England, the travel journal of Princess Izabela Czartoryska inaugurates the series Sources for art history, dedicated to the publication of original, historical documents.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 a 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 landscaped estates. The manuscript of the diary is preserved in the Czartoryski Library in Cracow, and is presented here in facsimile 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.

Sources for art history – is a series published by the Polish institute of World Art studies featuring documents related to works of art and artistic life, literary sources (including diaries) and visual material (also iconographic) related to history of fine and performative arts, anthologies of art criticism and theory of art. Subseries A contains publications in Polish, and subseries B – in English.