Holland. Autograph manuscript travel journals and related papers

HOLLAND, HENRY

An archive of 18 volumes and a bundle of letters, chiefly comprising journals relating to his extensive European travels but also including other family papers:

i. Letterbook, retained copies of 4 letters to his father from Portugal ("off Cape Fiseraon", Lisbon, and Santarem) dated 15 May to 7 June 1812, 114 numbered pages, small 4to, c.1812, contemporary sheep backed paper boards, loss at spine, upper cover detached, first few leaves loose

ii-v. Four autograph manuscript journals: the first headed "Journal in Spain, 1812", recording his travel from Alicante to Madrid, then north to Bilbao, with observations on towns, sites of historical interest, landscapes, local customs and people, and places connected with the ongoing Peninsular War (e.g. visiting British military hospitals at Vittoria), with some sketches and quotations, with itinerary, 110 numbered leaves, including blanks, 4to, 6 May to 23 August 1812; the second recording a tour from Milan to Hamburg via Verona, Venice, Trieste, through Austria to Vienna, an excursion to Presburg (Bratislava), through Bohemia to Prague, then through Saxony to Dresden, then to Berlin and to Hamburg, (the itinerary arranged, in part, "to avoid the numerous armies, at this moment crowding upon the Rhine"), with similarly detailed observations ranging from a visit to Petrarch's house to an appreciation of Vienna's musical richness ("...went to the Theatre of the Widen [...] to see Mozart's opera of the Zauberflöte..."), with a small number of sketchmaps, also some other notes, and an itinerary, c.114 pages, 4to, 31 May to 24 July 1815; the third headed "Journal in the North of Italy, and in France. 1816", recording a tour from Verona to Lyon via Turin, and then to Paris and Dieppe, including for example geological notes on the Rhone valley, with a few sketch maps and an itinerary, 51 numbered leaves, 4to, 7 to 24 October 1818; the fourth headed "Journal to Spa, 1818", recording a journey from Bruges through the Low Countries to Spa, then back via Paris and Boulogne, including a list of notable residents at Spa for the season, and an itinerary, 36 numbered pages, small 4to, 12 July to 11 October 1818; all in half calf with marbled boards, the first three with red morocco gilt lettering pieces on upper covers, the fourth with title on upper cover in ink; loss at spines, upper covers detached, 1818 volume with one leaf loose

vi. Sketchbook from his 1815 tour, headed "Sketches in Italy, & Germany Belgium. 1815 &c.", travels as detailed in the journal above, containing 35 sketches, in pencil, ink, and wash, of views and buildings, oblong 8vo, red roan, text block loose in covers 

vii. Diary, beginning with the funeral of his first wife, detailing his extensive travels including various tours of Scotland and Ireland, as well we trips to Russia (1830), Brussels including an audience with King Leopold (1831), France (1833, 1840 and 1843), Scandinavia (1834 and 1842), Germany (1835, 1836, and 1840, the last including an audience with the King of Prussia in Berlin), Spain and Portugal (1841), Scandinavia (e.g. the Royal Mounds of Gamla Uppsala in moonlight) (1842); also recording his professional life as a physician, in a decade dominated by the sweeping of cholera across Europe, with Holland recording both the outbreaks in London and observing cases even in remote corners of the continent, also with other epidemics ("...during the month of April [1833], a singular Epidemic prevailed in London; bearing the ordinary name of Influenza..."), and mentioning notable patients including the death of Sir Thomas Lawrence, "my friend Sir Walter Scott", the Duke of Sussex, and others ("...About the end of June [1839], I was called to Buckingham Palace, in consultation with Dr Chambers, on the case of Lady Flora Hastings - one that had already gained a very unhappy notoriety..."), c200 pages, 8vo, 1830-43, contemporary green half calf with marbled boards, loss at spine 

[also:] viii. Autograph manuscript entitled "Essays on Various Subjects", 115 numbered pages, 8vo, dated Glasgow, 22 November 1805, half sheep, five additional leaves loosely inserted

[with five manuscript volumes by Holland family members:] ix-xiii. two manuscript diaries, including discussion of public and personal events, reading (including reading Henry Holland's letters to his father from Portugal, above), folio, c.250 pages, folio, 21 September 1812 to 24 December 1814 and 7 February 1819 to 30 September 1820; volume of historical notes dated 1883; volume entitled "The Children's Record"; volume of press cuttings

xiv. Bundle of c.60 letters by Gertrude Nye to Michael Holland, 1894-96

xv-xix. Five printed books by Henry Holland: General View of the Agriculture of Cheshire. London: for Richard Phillips, 1808, calf, upper cover and preliminary leaves detached; another copy, lacking upper cover; Recollections of Past Life. London: Spottiswoode & Co., 1868, two copies, variant issues, one with preface dated 6 April and the other dated 30 June, red-brown cloth, presentation copies; Half Hours in the Far North. London: Daldy, Isbister, 1877; 8vo

Sir Henry Holland (1788-1873) was an eminent, and very well-connected, physician. He was also a passionate traveller. In 1810 he travelled to Iceland; he published a book on his 1812-13 travels around the Mediterranean; and throughout his long medical career he devoted two months of the year to travel. In his lifetime Holland visited every European capital and travelled more than 26,000 miles in America over eight separate trips.