Ben Jonson's Walk to Scotland
An Annotated Edition of the 'Foot Voyage'

An accessible edition of a recently discovered account of Ben Jonson's walk to Edinburgh with full annotation and contextual essays.

James Loxley (Edited by), Anna Groundwater (Edited by), Julie Sanders (Edited by)

9781107003330, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 December 2014

256 pages, 4 b/w illus. 1 map
23.5 x 15.9 x 1.7 cm, 0.5 kg

At the heart of this book is a previously unpublished account of Ben Jonson's celebrated walk from London to Edinburgh in the summer of 1618. This unique firsthand narrative provides us with an insight into where Jonson went, whom he met, and what he did on the way. James Loxley, Anna Groundwater and Julie Sanders present a clear, readable and fully annotated edition of the text. An introduction and a series of contextual essays shed further light on topics including the evidence of provenance and authorship, Jonson's contacts throughout Britain, his celebrity status, and the relationships between his 'foot voyage' and other famous journeys of the time. The essays also illuminate wider issues, such as early modern travel and political and cultural relations between England and Scotland. It is an invaluable volume for scholars and upper-level students of Ben Jonson studies, early modern literature, seventeenth-century social history, and cultural geography.

Introduction: Jonson's 'foot voyage' and the Aldersey manuscript
My gossip Jonson his foot voyage and mine into Scotland
Contextual essays
1. The genres of a walk
2. Jonson's foot work
3. Scenes of hospitality
Works cited
Index.

Subject Areas: Travel writing [WTL], Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD]