Raymond, John. An Itinerary Contayning a Voyage. London: Printed for Humphrey Moseley, 1648.
John Raymond undertook what has become known as the Grand Tour in the company of his uncle, John Bargrave, and another young man. There is some dispute about the authorship of the resulting book. But according to Edward Chaney, Raymond's Itinerary is "what we must now recognize as the first comprehensive English guidebook to Italy" (49).
It is also important for its Royalist prefatory epistle from Sir John Berkenhead, which links the origins of the formal Grand Tour with the events of the mid-seventeenth century. By presenting Rome as the ultimate destination for the young traveler (indicated by the phrase ne plus ultra, the "highest attainable point," or more ominously, "go no further"), the engraving signals the politics of the book to follow, a gesture particularly crucial in the year of Charles I's capture and execution. The bookseller, Humphrey Moseley, was the most important source for "high-end" Royalist books during the period. Moreover, the book's running title, Il Mercurio Italico, demonstrates its role in the "pamphlet wars" of the period, "Mercury" being the common name for newsbooks on both sides of the civil wars.
For further information, see Edward Chaney, The Grand Tour and the Great Rebellion: Richard Lassels and "The Voyage to Italy" in the Seventeenth Century (Genáeve: Slatkine, 1985) and Stephen Bann, Under the Sign: John Bargrove as Collector, Traveler, and Witness (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994).
Folger Call No. R415. Engraved title page and facing typographical title page.
