Miss Jemima's Swiss Journal; The First Conducted Tour of Switzerland

xii 112 plus Appendix I and Appendix II, illustrated with black and white plates. The jacket is lightly rubbed and chipped at the head and tail of the spine, its verso badly foxed; The number '314' is neatly written on the front end paper; there is a stain on the blank outer edge of page 66 which could be a printer's fault. Overall a clean, unmarked copy in tight binding. "Say hello to Jemima Morrell, a plucky woman from Yorkshire who had a spirit for true adventure. So much so that in 1863, at 31 years of age, she, along with three other lady friends, joined excursionist Thomas Cook on his FIRST guided tour of the Swiss Alps.Fully corseted and swathed from head to toe in heavy garments, dark crinoline, lace-up boots and donning a parasol, she looked more ready for a walk in the park than a traipse across the rugged Swiss Alps; in this instance the Mer de Glace in Chamonix, France. She belonged to the Junior United Alpine Club, a determined gang, to be sure, as five fellow members joined her on the Alpine adventure, including her younger brother, William. Their itinerary was grueling – awake at 4am every morning, went to bed late, and endured all weathers; all the while dressed in Victorian attire. Some days the women walked 17 miles plus.” We know how tough the adventure was ’cause Jemima kept a diary, discovered by family members one hundred years later in 1963; the amazing account was published under the title: “Miss Jemima’s Swiss Journal: The First Conducted Tour of Switzerland” The most crucial change was that it made going abroad for a holiday feasible and affordable. Up until then you needed both time and money to reach the Alps – just the journey there by coach took two weeks – but Cook changed that by using the railways and negotiating group discounts for the tickets. For the first time the middle classes could reach Switzerland and take a holiday there for two weeks and a few pounds. That was a seismic shift in the way people viewed foreign travel. It was no longer the preserve of the elite but something for everyone. Then on the back of his Swiss success, Cook added Italy, Egypt, India and so on until he was a world brand. And he introduced hotel vouchers, train passes and travellers' cheques to take the hassle out of going abroad. It was the birth of the modern travel industry.(Radu Stinghe).…