view of floating open book from stacked books in library

Coming soon

The Accidental Historians'

Steriker's Lot: A Family Affair?

Featuring tales about the writing of a 'travelogue*' or rihla**, an account of a journey to the Middle East, published in 1875, its author, W P Fogg and his 'Compagnon De Voyage' Steriker Finnis.

Intertwined is the secret history (provenance) of a copy of the Rihla, uncovered by the Accidental Historian and gifted by Fogg to Steriker Finnis. It remained in the family until it was sold at auction in 2007, along with a copy of the author's earlier travels around the world in 1871 - 1872, also gifted to Steriker Finnis in 1874; its history was unknown until 1994.

Using the original accounts and others from the period, it's both a TripAdvisor for a bygone age, and a biographical sketch of some who lived it.

*Ibn Battuta (born February 24, 1304, Tangier, Morocco—died 1368/69 or 1377, Morocco) was the greatest medieval Muslim traveller and the author of one of the most famous travel books, the Riḥlah (Travels). His great work describes his extensive travels, covering some 75,000 miles (120,000 km), to almost all Muslim countries and as far as China and Sumatra (now part of Indonesia).
(Encyclopædia Britannica)

**The earliest known use of the noun travelogue is in the 1890s (OED)