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JULIA L. HALE [?] Or JULIA De RUBIGNIR [?] : 1867 - 1868 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT TRAVEL DIARY FROM AMERICA TO IRELAND THROUGH TO ITALY ONLY TO WITNESS THE ERUPTION OF MOUNT VESUVIUS

12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. On offer is an original manuscript travel diary of a young woman who travels from America to Ireland on the S.S. Aleppo and then spends time in London and Paris before going to Italy. [Stating "Bought at Dublin 12 Nov. 1867" then a later hand, in pencil, on the fep, suggests the names of Julia L. Hale or Julia de Rubignir.] Entries range from 1867 to 1868 and our diarist does a great job describing the journey from America to Ireland on the ship as well as all the places she visits. The passages of her witnessing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and their attempt to be 'tourists' of the lava flow while in Italy are great. She adds further dimension by drawing a lovely folk art picture of the volcano in action. She also sees the Prince and Princess of Italy shortly after their marriage. Here are some snippets: We first caught sight of Vesuvius an hour and a half or two hours before we reached Naples it was then quite light and we could just see a silvery white cloud hanging over it but it became brighter and showed the fire as the day grew darker and we drew nearer. The first night at Naples we went to the Hotel Washington. I shall never forget the scene as we drove up to the door there was Vesuvius black as night except where the volcanic fires rose and fell while above the mountain a cloud hung even darker but a little on the right the full moon was just rising at first we could not see it but only its effects in the silver edges of the clouds and a lovely silver light which seemed to float up from a cloud then gradually it rose into sight, flooding the whole city with light gleaming on the water in strange contrast to the reflection of the ? Red lights on the volcano. We could scarcely tear ourselves away from the windows that night and were very sorry to leave the Hotel the next morning but there was an odor which could not be explained away so we walked away… We went ashore and went to the ruin of the temple of Jupiter…we went to the amphitheatre which is believe the most perfect one in the world we killed quite a large snake which was nearly at the very top then all the others except John and I went to Solfatara which is a mountain called the back door of Vesuvius. First we went to Vesuvius and drove up as far as we could then walked about two mils till we came to the lave which was thrown up or down or both as Mary wrote. It looks something like as if very thick black or brownish mush had been boiling furiously and suddenly congealed or like a storm raging at sea. We only went about half way up but it was not considered safe to go farther but we could see the mountain perfectly of course and had a good idea of the lava. Here another accident happened while we were in the tunnels there was so much smoke and steam that the engineer was poisoned by it and first fainted and then had convulsions very badly but they fanned them with branches and after an hour or two he was well enough to go on. We then went to San Lazzaro an island about a mile and a half from Venus there is a learned and celebrated Armenian convent there, the monks are all so handsome and look so intelligent…we had such a lovely monk to go around with us he was very small but quite handsome he had large bright black eyes and such a merry pleasant expression he had curly black hair and wore spectacles and was very restless indeed we could scarcely glance at a thing before he would say, No we will go. The most interesting things we saw were the autographs of Byron his portrait which was very handsome and the room which he occupied for three months while studying the Armenian language. Thursday morning the Prince and Princess and attendants came into town about half past ten there was a rope drawn across the grand canal just above the depot and none but private gondolas were allowed to go inside of it and our gondola was just outside and when the rope was taken away the jam was so great that no one could move scarcely the men shouted agua agua and there was the greatest hubbub and confusion and I really never saw anything so exciting in my life. Many of the hired gondolas go way ahead of the private ones ours was next but one to the prince's just before they landed so we could see them splendidly. The gondola or rather barge was finely ornamented there were a great many rowers…the boys took off their hats and bowed, the prince did the same to them…he looked very tired and dusty, he had a melancholy look as usual but we all liked him. The princess looked very pretty as usual she was dressed in a very handsome suit of dove colored silk. There were also several ladies of honor and two celebrated generals, one has the highest position in the army or rather the command of the army I believe." Included is a CDV of Will Morgan who is talked about throughout the diary and was traveling with her although their connection is not fully explained in a casual reading. The spine is gone for the most part but otherwise overall G.. English. Book Condition: Good. Binding: Full-Leather

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