Enlightenment Travel and British Identities: Thomas Pennant’s Tours of Scotland and Wales

Enlightenment Travel and British Identities is the first-ever collection of essays devoted to the influential eighteenth-century travel-writer, antiquarian and naturalist, Thomas Pennant (1726-1798). Offering a truly multidisciplinary range of perspectives, it explores the complex networks of informants who helped Pennant undertake and write-up the journeys behind his widely-read Welsh and Scottish ‘Tours’.

“Weaving together science, history, antiquarianism and art, this stimulating collection of essays amply demonstrates Thomas Pennant’s centrality to a broad range of British Enlightenment debates and discourses, especially those relating to Britain’s so-called ‘Celtic Fringe’. At the same time, it underscores the epistemological importance of travel and travel writing in the late eighteenth century.‘ - Carl Thompson, Senior Lecturer in English, St Mary’s University, UK

'Enlightenment Travel and British Identities shows why Thomas Pennant was more than a curious traveller , revealing his literary, scientific and antiquarian concerns. Enriching our understanding of Pennant’s Scottish and Welsh tours and how travel made truth, these engaging essays illuminate the making of historical identities in an age of intellectual reform.’ - Charles W. J. Withers, Ogilvie Chair of Geography, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, UK

‘This important and thought-provoking volume persuasively argues the case for a multidisciplinary approach to Pennant. Together the essays offer a fresh and subtly nuanced reading of the writings of this influential traveller and his significant contribution to home tour narratives of regional and national identity in the late eighteenth century.’ - Zoe Kinsley, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, Department of English, Liverpool Hope University, UK