But I set forth for the North of Europe unprovided with any
guide, excepting a few manuscript notes about towns and inns, etc., in
Holland, furnished me by my good friend Dr. Somerville, husband of the
learned Mrs. Somerville. These were of the greatest use. Sorry was I
when, on landing at Hamburg, I found myself destitute of such friendly
aid. It was this that impressed on my mind the value of practical
information gathered on the spot, and I set to work to collect for
myself all the facts, information, statistics, etc., which an English
tourist would be likely to require or find useful.
The first of Mr. John Murray's Handbooks to the Continent, published
1836, included Holland, Belgium, and North Germany, and was followed at
short intervals by South Germany, Switzerland--in which he was assisted
by his intimate friend and fellow-traveller, William Brockedon, the
artist, who was then engaged in preparing his own splendid work on "The
Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers of the Alps"--and France. These were all
written by Mr. Murray himself; but, as the series proceeded, it was
necessary to call in the aid of other writers and travellers.
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