Overview
From the Cornish coast where Wilkie Collins walked, to the Western Islands of Scotland visited by Samuel Johnson, author Anthony Burton has followed in the footsteps of eight earlier travelers in Britain, casting a fresh eye on the places they once so vividly described. In so doing, he has created a travel book of special charm and interest which presents something more than just a view of Britain today: it is a book where past and present unite.
Floating down the Thames between Oxford and London in the wake of a seventeenth-century waterman, braving the snow-covered Pennine hills with Daniel Defoe, visiting the distilleries of the Scottish Highlands in search of true malt whisky with Alfred Barnard, and exploring the heart of Wales with George Borrow, Burton relives their journeys, discovering changes and similarities in people and places, and finding his own perceptions of familiar scenes altering in the light of what they saw. In the author's own words, "Each journey described in this book has been a journey of love — a homage, if you like, to those who have given a uniquely vivid portrait of Britain at one particular time in the past."
Lavishly illustrated with the author's photographs, contemporary illustrations and maps of the travelers' routes, Britain Revisited also includes many delightful excerpts from the writings of William Cobbett, Celia Fiennes, John Taylor and the other travelers.