The Illustrating Traveler : Adventure and Illustration in North America and  the Carribean, 1760-1895 (painting) The Silk Road : history of one of the world's oldest and most historically important trade routes through Asia                                                                                   Doomed Explorers : focus on Sir Richard Burton and Sir John Franklin                                                                                   In Search of the Nile : historical overview                                                                                   Sir Richard F. Burton : A Pilgrimage to Mecca, 1853.  The Royal Geographic Society: (note: this site seems to be under construction in December 1999, but was recommended as an excellent resource for armchair adventurers.) The Explorers Web :  a resource for modern-day explorers, with articles and reports of explorations, plus links to members' web pages.  Lots of adventure to be had here.

Isabel Bird

Mary Kingsley

Kingsley, Mary.  Travels in West Africa.  1897.  A recent paperback, edited and introduced by Elspeth Huxley, makes a very nice read.

North, Marianne. Recollections of a Happy Life: Being the Autobiography of Marianne North. Edited by Susan Morgan. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993.  A facsimile reprint of the first volume of her memoirs, originally published in 1894. Included are vivid accounts of plant-hunting in Brazil and other travels in the tropics studying botany and painting.

Sir Richard Burton

Lovell, Mary S.:  A Rage to Live : A Biography of Richard and Isabel Burton.  W.W. Norton and Company, 1998. A lively biography of Richard and Isabel Burton, their travels, adventures, and marriage.

Courteney Selous Radclyffe Dugmore
 
 

The Globe Corner Bookstore : Books and Maps for Travellers

The Adventure Libary : publishers of hard-cover editions of books of exploration, survival, and discovery.  Worth a visit even if you don't buy because they include excerpts of each book.