Innocents Abroad. or the New Pilgrims Progress -- being an account of the steamsihpp QUAKER CITYs pleasure excursuion to Europe and the Holy Land, with descriptions of countries, nations, incidents and adventures as they appeared to the AUTHOR, with two hundres and thirty-four illustrations - by MARK TWAIN (Samuel L. Clemens) 1869.
by Twain, Mark (Clemens, Samuel L.) - 1835-1910 - -
pub by subscription American Publishing Co, 1869 - this edtiion published by SeaWolf Press -       - isbn 978-1950435159 - illustraed with pen and ink drawings as needed amid the text paperback - - 531 pages. with 7 pages added from the Mark Twain Museum

This is a travel book written with some humor. I found it different from other non-fiction written by Mark Twain. In many ways it was more descriptive and serious, but the description is written in such a way in that lively, and sometimes dry, humor in written in to those descriptions. It is also written by an American who by that time had traveled some, including to Hawaii, but had not previously traveled out of places where American influence prevailed.
The cover blurb explains that it was the most popular of his books by measure of copies sold during Twains lifetime.

Imediately after the US Civil War a number of wealthy protestants decided they wanted to visit the Holy Land. This was probably to enhance their understanding of their studies of the Bible. The opportunity was advertised, and the excursion participants pre-paid to go. Twain saw an opportunity to travel and write up the excursion. He funded his ticket by offering to go and and offered to send back periodic articles to a newspaper in San Francisco, among some others to which he had contracted.

The ship Quaker City was a side paddle steamer with a foremast and a mizzen mast. It was built in 1854 and saw service in the Union Navy as a blockader. It was refurbished into a passenger carrying vessel with appropriate and rooms to carry wealthy passengers in comfort and style.

The itinerary included stops in - The Azores Islands, then on to Spain and long stops for the -pilgrims- to tour France and Italy. Throughout this he is largely critical of the Roman Catholic Church, which for a person grown up in protestant USA is to be expected, and some of that criticism was well deserved. There was a stop in Greece with sneaking ashore around a quarantine. Then on to Constantinople and to the Black Sea where they visited with the Czar of Russia who was vacationing. Then back through the Dardinelles to Turkey where the -pilgrims- split into parties. Twain, with some friends took the land route and roughed it with a small caravan which they put together to visit Ephesus, then Baaakbec, Damascus and on into the Holy Land proper. This was during the time that the Turkish empire conrolled the whole ares. It was desperately poor and squalid. Twain was amazed at how small the Holy Land was. That one could easily walk from one area to another in a few days tinme, not at all like the distances he experienced in America. After re-joining the others, many of which traveled and lived aboard their ship, they all toured then headed back traveling westerly out of the Mediterranean and experienced quarantine as no ports wanted people who had been in the area diseased with cholera in the SE Mediterranean.
The Quaker City arrived back in New York in mid 1867 at the conclusion of their 5 month trip.
This was a very interesting read, not quite like other Mark Twain writings, but the qulity is high.
~2020-02-09~

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