From Pekin to Calais by Land

From Pekin to Calais by Land
Author: Harry De Windt
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 693
Release: 2016-07-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 110808463X

This 1889 book is an entertaining account of the overland journey de Windt and his companion undertook from Beijing to Calais.

In the Land of the Romanovs

In the Land of the Romanovs
Author: Anthony Cross
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
Total Pages: 440
Release: 2014-04-27
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 1783740574

Over the course of more than three centuries of Romanov rule in Russia, foreign visitors and residents produced a vast corpus of literature conveying their experiences and impressions of the country. The product of years of painstaking research by one of the world’s foremost authorities on Anglo-Russian relations, In the Lands of the Romanovs is the realization of a major bibliographical project that records the details of over 1200 English-language accounts of the Russian Empire. Ranging chronologically from the accession of Mikhail Fedorovich in 1613 to the abdication of Nicholas II in 1917, this is the most comprehensive bibliography of first-hand accounts of Russia ever to be published. Far more than an inventory of accounts by travellers and tourists, Anthony Cross’s ambitious and wide-ranging work includes personal records of residence in or visits to Russia by writers ranging from diplomats to merchants, physicians to clergymen, gardeners to governesses, as well as by participants in the French invasion of 1812 and in the Crimean War of 1854-56. Providing full bibliographical details and concise but informative annotation for each entry, this substantial bibliography will be an invaluable tool for anyone with an interest in contacts between Russia and the West during the centuries of Romanov rule.

Going to Extremes

Going to Extremes
Author: Stephen Wade
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2016-11-11
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1473863562

Harry de Windt (1856–1933) was a man who, by any standards, was a personality, a marked presence in the world of Victorian and Edwardian literature and social life. He was a member of the literary circle around Oscar Wilde and his friend and lover, Bosie (Lord Alfred Douglas); he was active in the world of the turf; and he travelled he took on dangerous journeys with relish, crossing vast tracts of the British and Russian empires for the sheer thrill of it. This book traces his life and adventures, at home and abroad, and also gives an account of his early work on military service in Sarawak, Malaysia, his expert knowledge of the Russian prison system, and his later Great War role running a POW camp. Many of his books reflect epic journeys against the odds: From Paris to New York by Land, Savage Europe, Siberia As It Is and others. His autobiographical work, My Restless Life, perhaps sums up his nature.Interesting facts: * Harry de Windt was brother to the Ranee of Sarawak and fought against rebels there in his early career * He visited the penal colony on the Russian island of Sakhalin close to the same time that Anton Chekhov went there * He appeared as a witness in the trial for libel of Lord Alfred Douglas, as he blamed Winston Churchill for the heavy losses in the Battle of Jutland * On his travels he met a host of interesting people from murderers to statesmen

Hard Driving

Hard Driving
Author: Dermot Cole
Publisher: University of Alaska Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2020-06-15
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1602234027

In the winter of 1908, six cars left Times Square bound for Paris. They were embarking on a remarkable motor race across the world that would capture everyone’s imagination. In this book, Dermot Cole weaves a thrilling account of the improbable journey west from New York to Paris, the varied characters, and the nascent automobile industry. Drawing from the drivers’ journals and extensive newspaper reports, Cole details the many hardships, triangulations, and physical extremes encountered along the route as the drivers attempted to race from coast to coast, cross the Bering Strait to Russia, traverse Siberia, and onward. Hard Driving delves beyond the riveting headlines to explore the race’s implications for global politics and diplomacy and how the automobile became a viable mode of transportation.