A Hand-Book for Travellers in Spain and Readers at Home

Tourist beware I “Spain is not a land of fleshly comforts, or of social sensual civilization. Oh! dura tellus Iberiae!— God there sends the meat, and the evil one cooks:—there are more altars than kitchens—des milliers de prêtres et pas un cuisinier” (p. 1183).

This warning was written by Richard Ford, an astute English observer of nineteenth-century Spain. His Hand-Book, still an excellent guide to the sights and cities of Spain, provides the historian with a detailed picture of Spanish culture and social customs in the middle of the last century. Written with great affection for Spain and her people, Ford’s book offers the interested reader or sentimental traveler an imaginative and highly informative journey into a Spain gone by.