In the summer of 1883 Belgian travel writer Jules Leclercq spent ten days on horseback in Yellowstone, the world's first national park, exploring myriad natural wonders: astonishing geysers, majestic waterfalls, the vast lake, and the breathtaking canyon. He also recorded the considerable human activity, including the rampant vandalism. Leclercq's account of his travels is itself a small marvel blending natural history, firsthand impressions, scientific lore, and anecdote. Along with his observations on the park's long-rumored fountains of boiling water and mountains of glass, Leclercq describes camping near geysers, washing clothes in a bubbling hot spring, and meeting such diverse characters as local guides and tourists from the United States and Europe. Notables including former president Ulysses S. Grant and then-president Chester A. Arthur were also in the park that summer to inaugurate the newly completed leg of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
A sensation in Europe, the book was never published in English. This deft translation at long last makes available to English-speaking readers a masterpiece of western American travel writing that is a fascinating historical document in its own right.
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"What a delightful discovery this book is. Jules Leclercq is the kind of writer we love to travel with-enthusiastic, energetic, observant, curious, and companionable. Janet Chapple and Suzanne Cane have produced a splendid translation and well-researched edition."-Robert Root, author of Postscripts: Retrospections on Time and Place "This lost jewel by an overlooked but wonderful explorer reads like a Jules Verne novel and is astonishing in its poetic descriptions of the raw nature of Yellowstone in the nineteenth century. A beautiful, evocative work on those early days in the American wilderness, it is like a literary Ansel Adams." -Peter Schulman, translator, author, and professor at Old Dominion University "A very welcome addition to Yellowstone's historical literature, this book presents a late-Victorian European visitor's lively impressions of the park, its science, its lore, and its literature."-Paul Schullery, author of Searching for Yellowstone and coauthor of Myth and History in the Creation of Yellowstone National Park "Yellowstone, Land of Wonders is as enjoyable a narrative tour of Yellowstone now as it was 130 years ago. This book-both the clear descriptions and the lovely woodcuts-illustrates the timelessness of this remarkable place."-Michael J. Yochim, senior project manager at Yosemite National Park and author of Yellowstone and the Snowmobile: Locking Horns over National Park Use
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978-1-4962-1170-5 (9781496211705)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Jules Leclercq (1848-1928), who wrote twenty-three travelogues, was a judge by profession and a founding member of the Royal Belgian Geographical Society. Janet Chapple is the author of Yellowstone Treasures: The Traveler's Companion to the National Park. Suzanne Cane is a librarian and independent French translator.
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