The Totall Difcourfe, Of the Rare Adventures, and painefull Peregrinations of long nineteene Years Travayles, from Scotland to the most famous Kingdoms in Europe, Asia and Affrica, published London, 1632.
Lithgow's account is significant because provides a record, not only of the cities and regions visited, but also of some of the customs of the time.
William Lithgow was born in Lanark Scotland in 1582. He became an inveterate traveller after being chased out of Scotland having been caught with a Miss Lockhart by her brothers who also cut off his ears giving him the nickname of "Cutlugged Willie".
This volume is divided into three books and ten parts each describing sections of his travels. An unusual feature of the book are the hand written pages thought to have been inserted to replace pages missed in the printing process. A few of the places he visited include - Paris, Rome, Venice, Dalmatia, Slavonia, Crete, Constantinople, Byzantium, Samothrace, Jerusalem, Egypt, and Malta.
As well as describing the places he visited he also describes some of the customs of the time. These include the first description of coffee drinking in Europe, Turkish baths, a pigeon post, Turkish long tobacco pipes, and artificial incubation.
He had many adventures and narrow escapes along the way including to have "suffered grievous tortures by the Inquisition of Malaga, Spaine", ship wreck and spells in prison.
Reference: Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press.
RGSSA catalogue rgsp 910.4 L776 1632
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