Frontispiece and title page from Joseph Townsend, A journey through Spain in the years 1786 and 1787

Frontispiece and title page from Joseph Townsend, A journey through Spain in the years 1786 and 1787, 1792 

Printed book 

 Townsend was a doctor, geologist and rector of Pewsey in Wiltshire from 1764 until his death in 1816. He describes himself as ‘a friend to Spain, and a warm wisher to her prosperity’. As his sub-title says, he took an encyclopaedic interest in the ‘Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, population, taxes and revenue’ of that country, all subjects to which he brought an insatiable curiosity. Much of the information he presented is in form of tables that convey his strong streak of scientific rationalism.  

 Townsend took the overland route through France from Paris to Barcelona, leaving London at the end of January 1786. But in his ‘Directions to the itinerant in Spain’ he recommends leaving in the autumn and taking an alternative route via Bayonne in SW France, Burgos, Valladolid and Madrid. This would enable the traveller to see the south of Spain during the winter. He regrets not having received such directions before his own journey, as he would have escaped a severe fit of illness caused by the intensity of the summer heat. At any event, he recommends that the traveller should take letters of credit, two good servants—a Spaniard and a Swiss—and not worry about the language, which will be ‘easily acquired’. 

 Townsend often commented on Spain’s past grandeur and its subsequent decline. Of Toledo, for example, he writes: ‘This famous city, once the seat of empire, where the arts and sciences, where trade and manufactures flourished, is now brought to ruin and decay, and kept in existence only by the church’ (Vol I, p. 313). Although often critical, Townsend engaged empathetically with Spain’s cultural heritage as well as new developments. For example, while in Madrid, he greatly admired the royal collections of art and the newly built palace of the Bourbon monarchy. He wrote with respect about the leading intellectuals he met personally in the capital, such as the statesman, the Count of Campomanes and the art historian Antonio Ponz, secretary of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando.  

Title: Frontispiece and title page of A journey through Spain in the years 1786 and 1787.  

Author/Artist: Joseph Townsend (1739-1816).    

Technique and Material:  Printed book, paper.  

Dimensions: 210 x 120 mm (each page). 

Published: Joseph Townsend, A journey through Spain in the years 1786 and 1787. Second edition; three volumes. London: C. Dilly, 1792. Volume 1, frontispiece and title page. 

Date: 1792.   

Marks and Inscriptions: The title page is lettered with the full book title, the author’s name and details, and publication details. ‘Rev. J. Townsend delin[eavi]t’ on the map and ‘Russell sculp[si]t’ below the plate, right. 

Institution: Barry Ife Collection.