Grand Tour Collection

Springtime in Paris - 1994

Edition of 250

Retail Price $895

"Mother always maintained that it was requisite for young women of gentle breeding to make the Grand Tour, but I can hardly believe that I am finally to see Paris. Soon I will feel the sun flittering through the horse chestnuts along the Champs Elysees and join the famous promenade on the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne." Springtime In Paris is all-porcelain and stands 11" tall. The trunk and trusseau are included.

Happy Traveling, and equally Happy Reading!

African Safari - 1995

Edition of 350

Retail Price $995

All Accessories Included

"It was always my dream to see Africa. When Beryl Markham wrote, 'it is a photographer's paradise', I knew I had to somehow capture the fierce wildebeest along with the graceful Thompson's gazelle."

I've so enjoyed doing the research and developing the concepts for this series celebrating the dauntless traveler. I think there must be a bit of wanderlust in all of us, even those of us who are happiest when warmly ensconced in our comfortable nests.

Summertime seems to be about travel, and I can't help reflecting on the experiences of travelers from the past. There have always been those of us who travel reluctantly, with great timidity and trepidation. In the book, Unsuitable for Ladies, I can't help identifying with one Eliza Bradley who wrote a journal of her travels entitled, An Authentic Narrative of the Shipwreck and Sufferings of Mrs. Eliza Bradley, The Wife of Captain James Bradley of Liverpool, Commander of the Ship Sally, which was wrecked on the coast of Barbary, In June 1818. The Crew and Passengers of the Above Ship fell into the Hands of the Arabs, a few days after their Shipwreck, among whom, unfortunately, was Mrs. Bradley, who after enduring incredible Hardships during Six Months Captivity (Five of which she was separated from her Husband, and every other Civilized Being) she was fortunately Redeemed out of the Hands of the Unmerciful Barbarians, by Mr. Wilshire, the British Consul, Resident at Mogadore, Written by Herself. (Yes that IS only the title.)

Don't you get the feeling that Mrs. Bradley did not embrace her experience with a sense of adventure? I wish I had the quote at hand from Anne Morrow Lindbergh, who likens herself, upon preparing to travel, to a snail, having to be peeled off a safe rock. I think that Mrs. Bradley, and myself share a kinship with that snail.

But our Grand Tour collection celebrates those adventurous souls, like our darling little photographer, who intrepidly venture into uncharted territory and embrace the world and peoples they meet along the way. I like the stoic attitude of Mary Kingsley, A Woman's Trip from the Cape to Cairo, 1907 "I have never hurt a leopard intentionally; I am habitually kind to animals, and besides I do not think it is ladylike to go shooting things with a gun. Twice, however, I have been in collision with them. On one occasion a big leopard had attacked a dog, which, with her family, was occupying a broken down hut next to mine. The dog was a half-bred boarhound, and a savage brute on her own account. I, being roused by the uproar, rushed out into the feeble moonlight, thinking she was having one of her habitual turn-ups with other dogs, and I saw a whirling mass of animal matter within a yard of me. I fired two mushroom-shaped native stools in rapid succession into the brown of it, and the meeting broke up into a leopard and a dog. The leopard crouched, I think to spring on me. I can see its great, beautiful, lambent eyes still and I seized an earthen water-cooler and flung it straight at them. It was a noble shot; it burst on the leopard's head like a shell and the leopard went for bush one time... Do not mistake this for a sporting adventure, I no more thought it was a leopard than that it was a lotus when I joined the fight." It is to the Mary Kingsleys of the world that I dedicate this year's Grand Tour, African Safari.

I know there are many of you, who, like me, can't get enough once you've started delving into a subject. For you, I have a list for further reading or (in the case of audio books) listening. These will give you a feel for British East Africa from the colonist's point of view, a peek into the lives of 19th century travelers and a deeper look into the intrepid spirit that led adventurers to travel the globe.

Here are some of my favorites:

AUDIO BOOKS

All of these books on tape are by Audio Editions (for a free catalog, call toll free 800 231-4261). For those of you who have not yet discovered audio books - you have a treat in store for you. I spend much of my day, while working alone in my studio, listening to stories, poetry, plays, and children's books, in addition to storytellers Garrison Keillor (Lake Wobegon) and Tom Bodett (End of the Road).

• West with the Night by Beryl Markham, read by Julie Harris
• Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen, read by Julie Harris
• Isak Dinesen, Herself, Telling Two Stories
• Julie Harris in Lucifer's Child, A one-woman play by William Luce, based on the life and writings if Isak Dinesen.
• Babbette's Feast and Sorrow-Acre by Isak Dinesen, read by Colleen Dewhurst

BOOKS

• The Lives Of Beryl Markham By Errol Trzebinski, published by W.W. Norton 1993
• Silence Will Speak: The life of Denys Finch Hatton and his Relationship with Karen Blixen by Errol Trzebinski, published by Heinemann, London, 1977
• Unsuitable for Ladies: An Anthology of Women Travelers, selected by Jane Robinson, published by Oxford University Press, 1994

And for a fascinating look at life in the nineteenth century, I highly recommend:

• What Jane Austin Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool, published by Touchstone, New York 1993

So, Happy Traveling, and equally Happy Reading!

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