Some Books About Europe (England, France, Germany, Italy)

This book list comes from several chapters in Mary Cadwalader Jones’ book European Travel for Women, originally published in 1900 by Macmillan. It’s a guidebook for traveling (solo or in a group) to the typical “grand tour” European countries: the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy– and I think it’s a FAB book. The writing is fun, there’s travel advice I haven’t seen in other guidebooks (which were probably written for me) and I really enjoyed reading it.

At the end of each country’s chapter was a list of recommended books, a mix of nonfiction (guidebooks, memoirs, histories, etc.) and fiction (mostly historical fiction and romances). While there’s some well-known authors on it, there’s quite a few lesser-known ones and some interesting women-focused titles that I (again) usually don’t see in other guidebooks. Plus, the fiction lists were helpfully organized by time period!

So I’ve copied those lists down here and linked to the books on Project Gutenberg, Internet Archive, and HathiTrust (manually, with no AI help) (also it took a long time to do lmao please leave a comment if you liked this post). Enjoy!

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Some Books About Great Britain

From European Travel for Women (1900), pages 126-128.

Nonfiction (Guidebooks, etc.)

• A Trip to England by Goldwin Smith
• Shakespeare’s England by William Winter
• Gray Days and Gold by William Winter
• Walks in London by Augustus J.C. Hare
• Literary Landmarks of London by L. Hutton
• Domestic Architecture in England by T.H. Turner
• A Handbook to the English Cathedrals by M. G. Van Rensselaer
• Bell’s Cathedral Series — see this post for complete title list
• Cathedral Churches of England and Wales by W. J. Loftie
• London City Churches by A. E. Daniell
• Memorials of Westminster Abbey by Dean Stanley
• Deanery Guide to Westminster Abbey
• Handbook to the National Gallery by E. T. Cook — vol. 2 on Internet Archive
• South Kensington Museum Art Handbooks — see this post for title list
• London by Walter Besant
• Historical Memorials of Canterbury by Arthur Penrhyn Stanley
• Portraits of Places by Henry James (partly in England)
• Longmans’ Historic Towns Series — see this post for title list
• Arnold’s Great Public Schools Series — see this post for title list
• The Inns of Court and Chancery by W. J. Loftie
• Memorable London Houses by W. Harrison
• The Story of Ireland by Emily Lawless
• The Story of Scotland by J. Mackintosh
• Literary Landmarks of Edinburgh by Laurence Hutton
• Royal Edinburgh by Mrs. Oliphant

A Few Novels

Eleventh Century

• Harold by Bulwer Lytton
• Hereward the Wake by Charles Kingsley

Twelfth Century

• Ivanhoe by Walter Scott
• Court Life Under the Plantagenets by Hubert Hall

Thirteenth Century

• Brakespeare by G.A. Lawrence

Fourteenth Century

• The White Company by A. Conan Doyle

Fifteenth Century

• Last of the Barons by Bulwer Lytton
• Chantry Priest of Barnet by A.J. Church
• The Black Arrow by R.L. Stevenson

Sixteenth Century

• The Abbot by Walter Scott (Scotland)
• The Household of Sir Thomas More by Anne Manning
• Kenilworth by Walter Scott (Warwickshire)
• Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley (Devonshire)

Seventeenth Century

• Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore (Devonshire)
• Holmby House by G.J. Whyte Melville (Northamptonshire)
• Peveril of the Peak by Walter Scott (Derbyshire)
• Woodstock by Walter Scott (Oxfordshire)
• The Draytons and the Davenants by Elizabeth Charles

Eighteenth Century

• Heart of Mid-Lothian by Walter Scott (Edinburgh)
• Esmond by W.M. Thackeray
• Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith

Nineteenth Century

• Three Feathers by William Black (Cornwall) — sidenote: interesting analysis on VictorianWeb.org
• A Princess of Thule by William Black (The Hebrides)
• The Deemster by Hall Caine (Isle of Man)
• Cranford by Mrs. Gaskell (Knutsford)
• Irish Idylls by Jane Barlow

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Some Books About France

From European Travel for Women (1900), pages 170-172.

Nonfiction

• Walks in Paris by Augustus J. C. Hare
• Days Near Paris by Augustus J. C. Hare
• Southwestern France by Augustus J.C. Hare
• A Little Tour in France by Henry James
• Old Court Life in France by Mrs. Elliott and Vol. 2
• Renaissance of Art in France by Mrs. Mark Pattison
• The Court of France in the Sixteenth Century by Lady Jackson and Vol. 2
• Old Paris by Lady Jackson and Vol. 2
• France by J. E. C. Bodley
• The Bible of Amiens by John Ruskin
• French Home Life by F. Marshall
• The Stones of Paris in History and Letters by Benjamin and Charlotte Martin and Vol. 2
• Histoire de Paris by F. Bournon
• Architecture of Provence by David MacGibbon
• Travels in France in 1787-8-9 by Arthur Young
• Le Chateau de Versailles by L. E. Dussieux and Vol. 2
• Old Touraine by T. A. Cook and Vol. 2
• The Story of Rouen by T. A. Cook
• Medieval France by Gustave Masson
• Modern France by André Lebon
• French and English by P. G. Hamerton
• Modern Frenchmen by P. G. Hamerton
• Painting in Europe, the Louvre by Lafenestre and Richtenberger
• The Praise of Paris by Theodore Child
• Memorable Paris Houses by Wilmot Harrison
• Promenades & Versailles by Philippe Gilles
• France of To-day by M. Betham-Edwards
• The Maritime Alps by the author of “Vera”

A Few Novels

Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

• Arthur of Brittany by Peter Leicester and Vol. 2, Vol. 3
• Good Saint Louis and his Times by A.E. Bray
• Marie de Brabant by A.P.F. Ménégault

Fourteenth Century

• Before the Dawn by George Dulac
• Isabeau de Baviére by Alexandre Dumas
• The Provost of Paris by W.S. Browning

Fifteenth Century

• Charles le Téméraire by Alexandre Dumas
• Quentin Durward by Walter Scott
• Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo (English trans.)
• A Stormy Life by Georgiana Fullerton

Sixteenth Century

• A Chaplet of Pearls by Charlotte M. Yonge
• La Reine Margot by Alexandre Dumas and Vol. 2
• Francois de Guise by M.J. Brisset
• Good Old Times by Anne Manning

Seventeenth Century

• Les Trois Mousquetaires by Alexandre Dumas — also English ver.
• Cinq-Mars by Alfred de Vigny
• Dorothy Arden by J.M. Calwell
• La Maison de Mauréze by Henri Gréville
• Sister Louise by G.J. Whyte-Melville

Eighteenth Century

• The Atelier du Lys by Margaret Roberts
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• Le Collier de la Reine by Alexandre Dumas and Vol. 2 — also English ver.
• Cerise by G J. Whyte-Melville
• Quatrevingt-treize by Victor Hugo — also English ver.
• Citoyenne Jacqueline by Sarah Tytler and Vol. 2, Vol. 3
• On the Edge of the Storm by Margaret Roberts

Nineteenth Century

• Histoire d’un Conscrit by Erckmann-Chatrian (English trans.)
• Waterloo by Erckmann-Chatrian
• The Parisians by Bulwer Lytton
• Within Iron Walls by Annie Lucas (the siege of Paris)
• Workman and Soldier by James F. Cobb (the Commune)
• A Week in a French Country-House by Adelaide Sartoris
• Hotel du Petit St. Jean by the author of “Vera.”
• The Village on the Cliff by Miss Thackeray

Some Books About Germany

From European Travel for Women (1900), pages 187-189.

Nonfiction

• Germany by S. Baring-Gould
• Life of Goethe by George Henry Lewes and Vol. 2
• The Story of Nuremburg by Cecil Headlam
• In the Black Forest by L. G. Seguin
• The Rhine by Frederick Knight Hunt
• Austria by Sidney Whitman
• Art in the Mountains; the Story of the Passion-Play by Henry Blackburn
• Kulturhistorisches Bilderbuch aus drei Jahrhunderten by G. Hirth
• Alterthim und Gegenwart unter drei Kaisern by Ernst Curtius
• Goethe Vorlesungen by Hermann Grimm
• Wanderbuch by Graf Moltke
• 99 Jahre am preussischen Hofe by Grifin Voss
• Betrachtungen eines in Deutschland reisenden Deutschen by P. D. Fisher
• Deutsche National Litteratur by Rudolph Gottschall
• Die Geschichte Deutschlands im 19ten Jahrhundert by Heinrich Von Treitschke
• Geschichte des deutschen Volkes by David Muller
• Der franzésische Feldzug (1870-1871) by August Niemann
• Geschichte der deutschen Frauenwelt by Johannes Scherr
• Deutsche Frauen im Mittelalter by Karl Weinhold

A Few Novels

Ninth Century

• Ekkehard (English trans.) by J. Victor Scheffel and Vol. 2

Twelfth Century

• Barbarossa by J.E. Bischoff

Fourteenth Century

• The Tower of the Hawk by Jane L. Willyams

Fifteenth Century

• The Cloister and the Hearth by Charles Reade
• The Dove in the Eagle’s Nest by Charlotte M. Yonge

Sixteenth Century

• Chronicles of the Schonberg-Cotta Family by Elizabeth Rundle Charles
• Lux et Umbra by Georg Hesekiel

Seventeenth Century

• Die Tochter des Piccolomini by Herlossohn
• Historische Novellen by Adolf Stern
• Die Bruder by A. Ungern-Sternberg

Eighteenth Century

• Friedrichder Grosse by E. H. von Dedenrott
• The Prisoner’s Daughter by Esmé Stuart

Nineteenth Century

• Die Ahpen by Gustav Freitag
• Enge Welt by Ilse Frapan
• Ein Sohn des Volkes by Levin Schucking
• The Witch of Prague by F. Marion Crawford
• A Cigarette Maker’s Romance by F. Marion Crawford (Munich)
• Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope (Prague)
• Das Rathsel des Lebens by Paul Heyse
• Die Familie Buchholz by Julius Stinde
• On the Cross: A Romance of the Passion Play at Oberammergau by Wilhelmine von Hillern
• The Vulture Maiden by Wilhelmine von Hillern (the Tyrol)
• The First Violin by Jessie Fothergill

Some Books About Italy

From European Travel for Women (1900), page 243-247

Nonfiction

• Der Cicerone by J. Burckhardt
• The Renaissance of Art in Italy by Mrs. Mark Pattison
• Renaissance Fancies and Studies by Vernon Lee
• Studies of Travel in Italy by Edward A. Freeman
• Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Frederick Crane
• Italian Journeys by William Dean Howells
• Notes of Travel and Study in Italy by Charles Eliot Norton
• Italian Byways by John Addington Symonds
• North Italian Folk by Mrs. Comyn Carr
• The Architecture of the Renaissance in Italy by William J. Anderson
• History of Painting in Italy by Luigi Lanzi and Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5, Vol. 6
• Memoirs of the Early Italian Painters by Mrs. Jameson
• Sketches and Studies in Italy by John Addington Symonds
• The Renaissance in Italy by John Addington Symonds and Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5, Vol. 6-7
• Studies of the Eighteenth Century in Italy by Vernon Lee
• Diary of an Idle Woman in Italy by Frances Elliot
• Venetian Life by William Dean Howells
• Venice, an Historical Sketch by Horatio Brown
• Life on the Lagoons by Horatio Brown
• La Peinture en Europe; Venise by Lafenestre & Richtenberger
• The Makers of Venice by Mrs. Oliphant
• Venetian Painters of the Renaissance by Bernard Berenson
• Venice by Charles Yriarte
• The Stones of Venice by John Ruskin and Vol. 2, Vol. 3 plus a special traveler’s version
• St. Mark’s Rest by John Ruskin
• Venice by Alethea Wiel
• Walks in Florence: Churches, Streets, and Palaces by Susan and Joanna Horner
• Mornings in Florence by John Ruskin
• The Makers of Florence by Mrs. Oliphant
• Florentine Painters of the Renaissance by Bernard Berenson
• La Peinture en Europe; Florence by Lafenestre & Richtenberger
• Tuscan Cities by William Dean Howells
• Italian Painters by Giovanni Morelli
• Histoire de I’Art Pendant la Renaissance, Italie by Eugene Muntz
• Leonardo da Vinci by Eugene Muntz and Vol. 2
• Tuscan Republics by Bella Duffy
• The Story of Perugia by Margaret Symonds and Lina Duff Gordon
• Roman History by Dr. Julius Koch
• Pagan and Christian Rome by Rodolfo Lanciani
• Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome by Rodolfo Lanciani
• The Destruction of Ancient Rome by Rodolfo Lanciani
• Manual of Roman Antiquities by William Ramsay and Rodolfo Lanciani
• Handbook to Christian and Ecclesiastical Rome by Hope Malleson and M. A. R. Tuker
  • Part I. The Christian Monuments. Part II. The Liturgy. Part III. Monasticism in Rome. Part IV. Ecclesiastical Rome.
• Musées de Rome by Wolfgang Helbig and Vol. 2
• Rome of To-day and Yesterday by John T. Dennie
• The Makers of Modern Rome by Mrs. Oliphant
• Ave Roma Immortalis, Studies from the Chronicles of Rome by Frances Marion Crawford
• Roba di Roma by William W. Story and Vol. 2
• The Tragedy of the Caesars by S. Baring Gould and Vol. 2
• Promenades dans Rome by De Stendhal
• Rome by Arthur Gilman
• Pilgrimage of the Tiber by William Davies
• Rome and Pompeii: Archaeological Rambles by Gaston Boissier
• Walks in Rome by Augustus J. C. Hare
• Days Near Rome by Augustus J. C. Hare
• Pompeii, Its Life and Art by A. Mau
• Cities of Southern Italy and Sicily by Augustus J. C. Hare
• Waunderjahre in Italien by Ferdinand Gregorovius
• The Island of Capri by Ferdinand Gregorovious
• Picturesque Sicily by W. A. Paton
• Diary of an Idle Woman in Sicily by Frances Elliot
• Pictures from Sicily by W. N. Bartlett
• Sicily by Edward A. Freeman
• Naples in the Nineties by Eustace Neville-Rolfe
• Stories of Naples and the Camorra by Charles Grant
• Modern Italy by Pietro Orsi

A Few Novels

First Century

• The Gladiators by G.J. Whyte Melville
• Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz
• The Burning of Rome by Alfred J. Church
• Last Days of Pompeii by Bulwer Lytton

Second Century

• Valerius by J.G. Lockhart

Third Century

• Callista by Cardinal Newman

Fourth Century

• Homo Sum by Georg Ebers

Fifth Century

• Fabiola by Cardinal Wiseman

Sixth Century

• Antonina, or the Fall of Rome by Wilkie Collins
• Bélisaire by J.F. Marmontel
• Ein Kampf um Rom by Felix Dahn

Fourteenth Century

• Marco Visconti by Tommaso Grossi
• Rienzi by Bulwer Lytton

Fifteenth Century

• Ettore Fieramosca by Massimo d’Azeglio
• Romola by George Eliot
• Isabella Orsini by Francesco Guerrazzi

Sixteenth Century

• Beatrice Cenci by Francesco Guerrazzi
• Catherine de’ Medici by T. A. Trollope
• Die Schlacht von Marignano by Karl von Witzleben

Seventeenth Century

• The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni

Nineteenth Century

• Doctor Antonio by Giovanni Ruffini
• Mademoiselle Mori by Margaret Roberts and Vol. 2 (Rome)
• A Roman Singer by F. Marion Crawford
• Pascarel by Ouida and Vol. 2, Vol. 3 (Florence)
• A Foregone Conclusion by William Dean Howells (Vemoe)
• Transformation (The Marble Faun) by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Vol. 2
• Adam Johnstone’s Son by F. Marion Crawford (Amalfi)
• Children of the King by F. Marion Crawford (Sorrento)
• In Maremma by Ouida and Vol. 2 (Tuscany)

Source

Jones, Mary Cadwalader. European Travel for Women (New York: Macmillan, 1900). PDF from Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/europeantravelf01jonegoog/page/n16/mode/2up