Una Sfida al Polo

Salgari, Emilio. Una Sfida al Polo. Firenze: R. Bemporad & Figlio, 1909.

Raggiungere per primi e in macchina il Polo Nord per lo statunitense Torpon e per il canadese Montcalm non è solo una sfida tra le loro rispettive patrie. E' innanzitutto una sfida d'amore, per conquistare la mano della bella Miss Ellen Perkins, donna fuori dal comune, famosa per la sua bellezza ma anche per la sua predilezione e bravura negli sport. Anche i due contendenti sono sportmen d'eccezione, tuttavia le loro capacità, per uno strano scherzo del destino, si sono sempre eguagliate in tutte le sfide che hanno sostenuto e così si ritrovano tra i ghiacci del Polo, dove, oltre a gareggiare tra di loro, devo anche lottare contro le insidie della Natura.

 

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Gulliver’s Travels

Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. Philadelphia: J.P. Lippincott, 1918.

Shipwrecked and cast adrift, Lemuel Gulliver wakes to find himself on Lilliput, an island inhabited by little people, whose height makes their quarrels over fashion and fame seem ridiculous. His subsequent encounters - with the crude giants of Brobdingnag, the philosophical Houyhnhnms and the brutish Yahoos - give Gulliver new, bitter insights into human behaviour. Swift's savage satire view mankind in a distorted hall of mirrors as a diminished, magnified and finally bestial species, presenting us with an uncompromising reflection of ourselves.

 

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In the Track of the Sun

Thompson, Frederick Diodati, and Harry Fenn. In the Track of the Sun; Readings from the Diary of a Globe Trotter. New York: D. Appleton, 1893.

 

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Women the World over

Tweedie, Ethel Brilliana. Women the World over. London: Hutchinson & co., 1914.

 

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The Pedestrian

Weston, Edward Payson. The Pedestrian: Being a Correct Journal of “Incidents” on a Walk from the State House, Boston, Mass., to the U.S. Capitol, at Washington, D.C., Performed in “Ten Consecutive Days,” between February 22d and March 4th, 1861. New York: Printed for E.P. Weston, 1862.

As I am daily asked the question, what possessed me to make such an attempt as to walk from Boston to "Washington in ten consecutive days—at a time, too, when the condition of the roads was such as to render the walking very difficult— can think of no better way to answer this question, and others respecting this pedestrian performance, than by publishing this journal ; inasmuch as it is my intention to make the at- tempt again in May of the present year. I have also added to this, the account of my adventures, while " walking" from Philadelphia to Washington in disguise, a few days after the riot at Baltimore (19th of April, 1861), and my arrest by the Sixty-ninth regiment of New York State Militia, Colonel Mi- chael Corcoran. You will also find the particulars of my plans for the walk I contemplate taking in May next.

Tlie journal of my walk of "ten days" is compiled from notes taken by my companions on that excursion, Mr. Charles II. Foster, of Worcester, Massachusetts, and Mr. Abner A. Smith, of New Haven, Connecticut.

Having agreed that, were I not successful the first time, I would attempt it again, I am only too willing to do so. I trust you will overlook the many imperfections you will find in these pages, believing that the author can walk better than he can lorite.

 

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All Round the World

Ainsworth, William Francis. All Round the World : An Illustrated Record of Voyages, Travels and Adventures in All Parts of the Globe. London: W. Collins, 1871.

The present edition covers the author's travels to several countries of the world. Ainsworth's interest is focused primarily on social and private life of various ethnicities, as well as monuments. As he writes in his introduction, it is a book on Geography, Science and Nature. Jerusalem, Sicily, China, Japan, the islands of the Indic Ocean, Mongolia, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Cuba, the Galapagos islands, Dalmatia, the Maldives, Mount Athos, North America, South Africa, the steppes of Siberia and Morocco are only some of the countries and regions described in a text accompanied by abundant illustrations. 

 

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Viaggio intorno al Globo di un luganese

Dollfus, Ruggero. Viaggio intorno al Globo di un luganese, Ottobre 1900 - Luglio 1901. Lugano: stabilimento tipografico Fratelli Traversa, 1902.

Nell'ottobre 1900 l’egregio nostro concittadino dr. Roggero Dollfus partiva dal Ticino per recarsi a fare un viaggio intorno al globo. Fin dai primi giorni egli prese a scrivere regolarmente alla famiglia le proprie impressioni: le sue lettere, stese in lingua francese e certo non destinate dal suo autore alla pubblicità, portavano un carattere simpaticissimo di sincerità, di freschezza; di evidenza, che avvinse tutti coloro cui fu dato di leggerle. Il sottoscritto si fece ardito a pregare la cortese famiglia Dollfus di permettere la riproduzione nel "Corriere del Ticino" di quelle note di viaggio: non solo il permesso fu accordato, ma la gentilissima signora Laura, la mamma del giovane viaggiatore, si assunse la cura della traduzione in italiano.

 

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Around the United States by Bicycle

Murphey, Claude Charles. Around the United States by Bicycle. Detroit: Press of Raynor & Taylor, 1906.

Clarence M. Darling and Claude C. Murphey, age 19 and 20 respectively, left Jackson, Michigan, on May 2, 1904, to make a trip by bicycle through every state and territory within the boundary lines of the United States proper, namely, fortv-five states, four territories, and the District of Columbia. The trip was the result of a wager. 

Upon the success of the tour a purse of five thousand dollars would be won by the two contestants providing that they lived up to all the terms and stipulations of the wager. The conditions were that they were to start on this long journey penniless, while on the trip they were neither to beg, work, borrow, nor steal, all the expenses of the tour to be met by the profits resulting from the sale of an aluminum card-receiver or ash-tray, a fac-simile of which is given on one of the following pages.

 

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Tramping and Camping

Woolf, Dwight Homer, and Woolf. Tramping and Camping. Kansas City, Kan.: S. I. Meseraull & Son, Printers, 1912.

The unique experience of Mr. and Mrs. Dwight H. Woolf, the champion Long Distance Walkers, has awakened general interest throughout the United States. 

In 1909, Mr. Woolf's doctor informed him that he would have to get out in the open and stay there, or he would die. He weighed only 107 pounds, including clothes, and was growing weaker daily. Yet he hesitated about giving up his business as a music publisher - his life work; and it seemed a little short of madness to forego all the luxuries - the so-called "comforts" - of civilization 

But Mrs. Woolf, who was a brave, sensible woman, thoroughly devoted to her husband's interests, agreed with the physician and suggested a walk to the Ozark Mountains. 

That was the beginning of a most remarkable series of trips through Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and up through the north Atlantic States to New York and Boston, then home to Kansas City - in the aggregate, a journey of about 10,300 miles. 

Yet, wherever the couple went there was really but one destination - health. 

Mr. Woolf gained strength and, not long after starting, was able to make twenty-five or thirty miles in a day.

 

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Around the World on Wheels

McIlrath, H. Darwin. Around the World on Wheels for the Inter Ocean the Travels and Adventures in Foreign Lands of Mr. and Mrs. H. Darwin McIlrath. [Chicago]: Inter Ocean Pub. Co., 1898.

When I consented to the plan of going around the world I intended to make the trip alone, but my wife pleaded so hard to accompany me that I finally concluded to take her. She is a brave little girl, and rather than considering her a burden, I now look upon her as having been of great help to me on our memorable voyage. Aside from the fact that she is an expert wheelwoman, she is also an unerring shot. Nerve she possesses in abundance, as all will agree after reading of the adventures which befell us. 

 

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A Pedaller Abroad Being an Illustrated Narrative of the Adventures and Experiences of a Cycling Twain during a 1,000 Kilomètre Ride in and around Switzerland

Simond, Chas F. A Pedaller Abroad Being an Illustrated Narrative of the Adventures and Experiences of a Cycling Twain during a 1,000 Kilomètre Ride in and around Switzerland. London: J. Causton, 1897.

 

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A Pedestrious Tour of Four Thousand Miles

Evans, Estwick. A Pedestrious Tour of Four Thousand Miles. Concord, N.H.: Joseph C. Spear, 1819.

 

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The Englishwoman in America

Bird, Isabella. The Englishwoman in America, 1856.

In 1856, Isabella Bird published The Englishwoman in America, the first of what would be many books of her travels around the world. Adopting a tone of aloof bemusement, she describes in detail the hardships and annoyances of her travels by sea from England to Halifax, and on the road to Boston, Cincinnati, and Chicago. The book's 20 chapters are full of keenly observed and entertainingly told stories of pickpockets and luggage thieves, greasy hotels, and Americans who are very polite, but have the unfortunate habit of spitting on the floor. Bird admits to sharing the regrettably prejudiced view the English have of America, but nevertheless finds much to like and admire in this new country bustling with ethnically diverse immigrants full of energy and bravado. The Englishwoman in America is a wonderful travelogue that offers a lively and personal glimpse into mid-nineteenth-century America. 

 

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Around the World in Seventy-Two Days

Bly, Nellie. Around the World in Seventy-Two Days. New York: The Pictorial Weeklies Company, 1890.

Around the World in Seventy-Two Days is a book by journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, writing under her pseudonym, Nellie Bly. The chronicle details her 72-day trip around the world, which was inspired by the book, Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. She carried out the journey for Joseph Pulitzer's tabloid newspaper, the New York World.

 

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