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Jan Palmowski
Apart from influencing the frame of mind of so many Victorian travelers,
Ruskin’s engagement with tourists in northern Italy was formalized through his
involvement with the revision of Murray’s Handbook to Northern Italy. Its first
edition, written by the eminent classical scholar, Francis Palgrave, had caused
much controversy upon publication in 1842. Ruskin took a leading part in criticizing
the work for the unusual subjectiveness in its judgment and its evaluation of
classical and Renaissance art. In response to this barrage of criticism, the handbook
was revised thoroughly for its second edition, which was published in 1847. To
this edition, Ruskin made a number of contributions himself, mainly on works of
art in Florence and Pisa. 51
It would be beyond the scope of this chapter to examine further the irony of
tourists “doing” Ruskin’s Venice in a day, or the contradictions of Ruskin’s
contribution to the Murray, on the one hand, and his loathing both of the guidebook
and the kinds of tourists it encouraged, on the other. 52 Murray’s guidebook and
Ruskin shared the intent to direct the appreciation of their readers towards
particular objects and buildings, but in doing so they followed completely different
agendas, the former encouraging general impressions, the latter directing particular
views. 53 Ruskin did not just try to correct popular impressions created by the
Murray, but in 1875–7 he even created his own, “alternative” guidebook. Mornings
in Florence, a cheap, popular guidebook sold in six separate parts at 10 pence each,
with each booklet providing a tour for a day through Florence: 3,000 copies of
each part were sold by 1881, when another 3,000 copies each were printed. 54 Yet,
in his very engagement with Murray and the middle-class traveler, Ruskin was
fighting a losing battle. Whether written by Ruskin or by Murray, the guidebook
helped to turn its own romantic notions of travel into a travesty. Miss Jemima’s
appreciation of the sunrise from the Rigi Culm was directed by her Murray’s
extensive description of the view and its importance. Yet, if in Byron’s day in 1816
these impressions were enjoyed by 294 guests who had signed the visitors’ book
of the Rigi Culm’s first Inn, by 1870, 40,000 annual visitors graced its peak. In
1874, following the completion of the railway line to the top of the mountain, that
number had exploded to over 104,000 visitors. 55 The sunrise may still have been
sublime, but its experience was no longer solitary.
What deserves to be borne in mind is the sheer numbers affected by the images
communicated through the guidebook. In addition to its influence through Ball’s
and Gaze’s guides, Murray’s Handbook to Switzerland sold 44,250 copies between
1838 and 1874. If one assumes that the average size of each traveling party
consisted of four people who shared one handbook, the Murray had been used by
almost 200,000 British middle-class travelers to Switzerland alone. 56 In the 1860s,
organizers such as Cook and Gaze brought Switzerland and northern Italy within
reach of sections of the middle classes who would otherwise not have been able
to travel thus far. Gaze’s efforts rewarded those able to dispense with ten guineas,
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