Targeted at both intrepid travellers and ‘readers at home’, this two-volume account of Spanish history, topography and culture by Richard Ford (1796-1858) combines the rigour of a gazetteer with the humour and pace of a private travel diary. First published in 1845, as part of John Murray’s series of guidebooks, the work made an immediate impact upon the reading public, and it was celebrated in the press as the ‘most comprehensive and accurate account of that country’ hitherto produced. Starting in the Kingdom of Leon, and again using a series of hand-picked routes, Volume 2 leads readers to the pilgrim shrine of Santiago de Compostela and through Galicia and the Basque provinces, introducing them to castles, universities, art collections and the ‘inhospitality of Madrid’. The result is an engaging account that will be of interest to modern tourists and historians alike.