BOOKS READ
Sarah read about 50 books on the journey!
Descriptions of the books, the authors and Sarah’s impressions.

LIFE OF NAPOLEON
by John S.C. Abbott
1855
Abbott takes a very favorable view of the leader from the French, rather than the British, perspective.
His view was different from that of the time period, with examples of Napoleon as a good man, who was merciful and did not want war.
Sarah appears to have an advance manuscript of the book, since it was not published until 1855.
QUEECHY
by Elizabeth Wetherell
(Susan Bogert Warner)
1852
MY NOVEL
or
VARIETIES OF ENGLISH LIFE
by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
MEMOIR OF MARY L. WARE
KING ARTHUR
A POEM
by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
PUNCH
LARDNER’S
OUTLINES OF HISTORY
by Professor Dionysius Lardner
THE HISTORY OF
THE DECLINE AND FALL
OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
by Edward Gibbon
A STEP FROM
THE NEW WORLD TO THE OLD
AND BACK AGAIN
by Henry Philip Tappan
ROSE DOUGLAS
or
SKETCHES OF A COUNTRY PARISH
being the
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
A SCOTCH MINISTER’S DAUGHTER
HISTORY OF
MARIA ANTOINETTE
by John S.C. Abbott
THE HISTORY OF
CLEOPATRA
QUEEN OF EGYPT
by Jacob Abbott
PLUTARCH’S LIVES
or
PARALLEL LIVES
by Plutarch
ROBINSON CRUSOE

Written in 1719, ROBINSON CRUSOE is often considered to be the first English novel.
It has been one of the most widely published books in history and was wildly popular in Sarah’s time.
There were more than 700 alternative versions, including some children’s versions with pictures and no text.
Perhaps that is the type of book Willie enjoyed on The Sea Serpent.
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
from the Discovery of the American Continent
by George Bancroft
LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME
by Thomas Babington Macaulay
JOURNAL OF THE PILGRIMS
AT PLYMOUTH, IN NEW ENGLAND, IN 1620
by George B. Cheever, D.D.
ARABIAN NIGHTS
A KEY TO UNCLE TOM’S CABIN
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
THE NIGHT-SIDE OF NATURE
by Catherine Crowe
THE DISCARDED DAUGHTER
OR CHILDREN OF THE ISLE
A TALE OF THE CHESAPEAKE
by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte (E.D.E.N.) Southworth
THE DAYS OF BRUCE
A Story of Scottish History
by Grace Aguilar
THORPE:
A Quiet English Town and Life Therein
by William Mountford
LYELL’S TRAVELS IN NORTH AMERICA
by Sir Charles Lyell
Sir Charles Lyell, a renowned geologist from Great Britain, and his wife Mary traveled extensively in North America, making 4 visits from 1841 to 1853. Traveling by horseback, stagecoach, train, and steamboat, and staying in hostels to shacks, they collected samples that they later categorized and labeled. He made many observations on the formation of the American landscape.
He then used this data to write two volumes of “Lyell’s Travels in North America” in a travel diary format, incorporating his geological findings while also commenting on social issues of the day.
His books not only supported his theories, they also gave Americans more of an understanding of their geology and gave Britain a positive impression of the New World.
JAPAN:
An Account, Geographical and Historical,
from the earliest period at which the islands composing this empire were known to Europeans, down to the present time,
and the expedition fitted out in the United States, etc.
by Charles MacFarlane
Due to their isolationist policies, Japan was largely unknown to Europeans and Americans.
Interest in Japan peaked in 1852 when Commodore Matthew Perry was given the task to negotiate a treaty to open trade and improve relations in that area.
Although Charles MacFarlane did not visit Japan himself, he compiled information on what was known about Japan and the Japanese people: its geography, history, culture and national character.
Sources include works by
Engelbert Kampfer (1651-1716), Vasiliy Mikhaylovich Golovnin (1776-1831) and Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828).
HORSE-SHOE ROBINSON
A Tale of the Tory Ascendency:
by John Pendleton Kennedy
Historical romance set during the American Revolution in the western mountain areas of Virginia and the Carolinas in the times leading up to the British defeat at the Battle of Kings Mountain. Although a work of fiction, many of the characters, such as the Britsh General Charles Cornwallis, and the battles described were real. The story also shows the conflict within families and between friends, whose loyalties differed.
NINEVEH AND ITS REMAINS:
The Gripping Journals of the Man Who Discovered the Buried Assyrian Cities
by Austen Henry Layard
Exciting personal account of the British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard as he describes his adventures as he travels by caravan to remote unfamiiar places in Asia Minor, his discovery of the ancient city of Nineveh, the excavations, and the transfer of vast treasures including bas-reliefs, winged lions, tombs and large stone carvings to the British Museum in London.
THE CONFESSIONS OF FITZ-BOODLE
AND SOME PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF MAJOR GAHAGAN
by William Makepeace Thackeray
LITTLE PEDLINGTON and the PEDLINGTONIANS
A Satire
by John Poole
Paul Pry, an English gentleman, is looking for a place to go to escape London’s summer heat.
Influenced by a quirky guide book, he visits “Little Pedlington”, described as a “very Paradise”.
“Hail, Pedlingtonia, Hail, thou favoured spot! What’s good is found in thee; what’s not, is not.”
Written in typical British satirical humor, the book describes the trials and tribulations of arriving there and the cast of characters he meets along the way and once he arrives.
NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY THROUGH THE UPPER PROVINCES OF INDIA FROM CALCUTTA TO BOMBAY (1824-25)
by Reginald Heber
Reginald Heber served as Bishop of Calcutta from 1823 to 1826. He worked tirelessly to improve the spiritual and living conditions of the Indian people, embarking on first a trip to northern, then southern India. His wife published his journals after his untimely death, due to an arduous work schedule and poor health. Heber has been commemorated in both India and England.
THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
MEMOIR OF JULIA SOPHIA DAVIS
Who Died at Worcester, March 31, 1833
by Julia Sophia Davis
John S.C. Abbott (Ed)

Moral tale for young readers, recounting (mostly in her own words) the final days on earth of a young Massachusetts girl, whose cheerful fixation on the coming joys of the afterlife provide, in the words of the editor, “an unusually interesting exhibition of youthful piety.”
An exemplar of the morbid-romantic strain in mid-19th-century American letters.
THE BLITHEDALE ROMANCE
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was a member of the Utopian farming community Brook Farm from April to November 1841. Blithedale Romance uses this setting to dramatize the story of four main characters who leave the city for the idealized life on the farm, but their private desires and romantic rivalries create conflict that ultimately leads to tragedy. The story emphasizes the social and political issues of the 19th century. Another example of Dark Romanticism – which tends to draw attention to the unintended consequences and complications that arise from well-intended efforts at social reform.
THE SNOW IMAGE and OTHER TWICE TOLD TALES
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
This was a collection of short stories.
The Snow Image: A Childish Miracle was originally intended for adults and later adapted for children.
A sister and brother, named Violet and Peony, create a snow girl that magically comes to life, but melts when their unimaginative father insists that she is real and brings her inside.
Another example of Dark Romanticism – which tends to draw attention to the unintended consequences and complications that arise from well-intended efforts at social reform.
ANCIENT AND MODERN INDIA
by William Cooke Taylor
and P J MacKenna
SWALLOW BARN
or A Sojourn in the Old Dominion
by John Pendleton Kennedy

The book is thought to be more of a story of the manners and customs of Virginian plantation life rather than a traditional novel.
The story focuses on two plantations – Swallow Barn and the Brakes – and a long-running legal battle between the owners.
In the end a courtship between members of the families helps resolve the conflict.
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
by S. Wells Williams
Samuel Wells Williams, American linguist, missionary, author and professor, who served as official interpreter for the Perry expedition to Japan in 1853 and socialized with the Howlands in Macao, wrote this book about the
“Geography, Government, Education, Social Life, Arts, Religion, etc. of the Chinese Empire and its Inhabitants” in the year 1848.
THE NILE BOAT
or Glimpses of the Land of Egypt
by W.H. Bartlett
CASA GUIDI WINDOWS
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning felt strongly about Italy’s struggle for political autonomy from Austria and quest for unification, known as the Risorgimento. She published the first part of “Casa Guidi Windows” in 1851 about the hopeful early events. This refers to her eye-witness view of history from the windows of her Casa Guidi apartment in Florence, Italy. The Unification was to be a long and painful process, however, and she wrote the second part three years later. Unification did not finally occur until 1861.
SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
“Sonnets from the Portuguese”, a collection of 44 love sonnets written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, was first published in 1850. Because they are so personal, Elizabeth was hesitant to publish the poems, but her husband Robert Browning thought they were “the best sequence of English-language sonnets since Shakespeare’s time”. Since Robert Browning called Elizabeth his little “Portuguese” due to her dark complexion and her admiration for the famous Portuguese poet Camoes, they thought the title “Sonnets from the Portuguese” might make them less personal. No one seemed to be fooled by the title.
FINAL MEMORIALS OF CHARLES LAMB
by Thomas Noon Talfourd
JOURNAL OF A RESIDENCE OF TWO YEARS AND A HALF IN GREAT BRITAIN
by Jehangir Nowrojee
and Hirjeebhoy Merwanjee
Two Parsee cousins from a master shipbuilding family in Bombay, India traveled to Great Britain 1838 to 1841 to train as naval architects at Chatham Naval Dockyard.
They wrote a journal to document the experience of their travels.
It is a fascinating view into life in England in the early 1840s from the perspective of an outsider.
The account includes their impressions of:
Voyage from Bombay to England, River Thames, Climate, Bridges, Carriages, Railroads, Parks, British Museum, Scientific Institutions, Markets, Hospitals, Houses of Parliament, Fine Arts, Public Buildings, Dockyards, Publications, Customs, Manners, Entertainment: Theaters, Diorama, Zoo, Madame Tussaud Wax Museum
AN HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF FORMOSA,
AN ISLAND SUBJECT TO THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN
by George Psalmanazar
George Psalmanazar was a Frenchman who convinced English intellectuals that he was the first native from the supposedly savage island of Formosa (now Taiwan) to visit Europe.
He made up an elaborate story that he had been kidnapped by a Jesuit priest.
He also invented an imaginary Formosa with bizarre customs, which he described in this book.
He was later revealed to be an imposter.