The Iceland Journals of Henry Holland 1810 - Edited Andrew Wawn

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The Iceland Journals of Henry Holland 1810 – Edited Andrew Wawn

Short Description

The British had visited Iceland for many years, but little was written about it before this expedition.

Led by Sir George Mackenzie accompanied by a party of young Edinburgh scientists. Among them was Henry Hall, who later became a physician to Queen Victoria in London. Hall was 22 at the time of the expedition.

The object of the exercise was to explore and investigate several volcanic regions to contribute to the important and controversial mineralogical debate that was then taking place in Europe. There are three fundamental journeys … to Gullbringusfsala; the Snaefellsnes Peninsula and Rangarvallasyla.

On return Mackenzie published the first good account on Iceland for over forty years … “Travels in the Island of Iceland etc”. Henry Hall had kept a detailed diary which, never published was retained in family hands until gifted by them to a Reykjavik institution.

The author of this work, Andrew Wawn, carried out the sort of research expected of a Hakluyt contributor concluded that Mackenzie’s published work relied heavily on Hall’s manuscript without acknowledgement. Furthermore, Hall’s more detailed and in the moment account contained much missed by his illustrious leader ... so here we have it.

Published by Hakluyt in 1987. Octavo, 342 pages after preliminaries. The extent of Wawn’s work in bringing this account to life is clear from the 70-page introduction. Then we have 200 pages of the text of the journals illustrated by numerous sketches made by Hall. Followed by several useful appendices. A very good copy.

Hall’s missing journals on Iceland 1810.

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