Early travel was accomplished with a retinue of porters, servants, guides, and security guards.

Until the mid 19th century, the woman travelled mainly to accompany husbands in their work-related roles, but then began reaching out to see more and go solo with a guide. I believe if the author concentrated on only a couple of women experiencing the ordeals of travel in each exotic country, their impressions of the people they observed and the wonders they saw, the reader would be more engaged.

Jumping around in various centuries interfered with continuity. The excitement of their journeys was marred by dry narration which reminded me of a textbook. They certainly lead unorthodox lives unrestricted by expectations for women at the time. The book was organized by country and sometimes a dozen women travellers would be named on a couple of pages only to pop up in different chapters where the continuity of their travels was lost. It contains anecdotes about women travellers from the late 1600s to the end of the 1800s. I have owned this book for years and was determined to finally finish it today. That roughly averages out for a total of 3 stars. In terms of format, organization and writing I will award only 1 star. For illustrative design, the book gets a dazzling 5 stars. It is embellished by amazing historic photographs, drawings and engravings and old maps. It was difficult to assign a rating to this book. These days, the flea market is the consummate collector’s primary source of research and inspiration. Hodgson’s books are unique in that they combine her writing with a multitude of illustrations of various types drawn from a wide range of sources, including engravings, lithographs, photographs, stereo-cards, postcards, movie stills, and pulp magazine and novel covers. She is also the author of four acclaimed illustrated novels Lives of Shadows, Hippolyte’s Island, The Sensualist, and The Tattooed Map. She began her career in book design by working for Douglas & McIntyre, moving from freelance designer to art director prior to taking on freelance work for other publishers and ultimately forming the book-packaging company Byzantium Books with Nick Bantock in 1993.ĭesigning books led to writing books: Hodgson is the author of No Place for a Lady, Dreaming of East, and Italy Out of Hand, all published by Greystone Books, and several other highly praised non-fiction books. Barbara Hodgson is a book designer with a degree in archeology and a diploma in graphic design.

No Place for a Lady by Barbara Hodgson