The market for travel writing

Bell, Bill ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1143-8492 2020. The market for travel writing. Schaff, Barbara, ed. Handbook of British Travel Writing, Vol. 12. Handbooks of English and American Studies, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH, pp. 125-141. (10.1515/9783110498974-008)

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Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the way in which travel writing de-veloped as a mass market at the end of the eighteenth century. In accordance witha host of technological developments, the production of British travel writing grew,assisted by the spread of national influence across the globe. In the process a num-ber of key publishers developed extensive lists in the area of travel writing, notleast the firms of John Murray, William Blackwood, and Smith & Elder. Anotherconsequence was the emergence of a new kind of celebrity traveller, as authorshipwas put on a more professional footing. While the emphasis of historians and com-mentators has often been exclusively on books and their authors, the periodicalpress was perhaps an even more prolific source for travel writing throughout thenineteenth century. Since the advent of the twentieth century and despite the de-cline of British overseas influence, the travel market has continued to flourish. Inthe process, the market for travel writing has adapted itself to new readerships andnew forms of communication technology. While on the one hand today’s multime-dial travel content can be seen as a break with the past, it might be argued that, inattempting to keep one step ahead of changing demands, it continues to representjust one more stage in a process that began with the industrialisation of print overtwo centuries ago.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	English, Communication and Philosophy
Publisher:	Walter de Gruyter GmbH
ISBN:	9783110499834
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	3 October 2022
Last Modified:	10 Nov 2022 11:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/149841

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