1900 - “touring in fancy this delightful region”

Easton Smith Valentine presents Wordsworth’s Country as a “tour in fancy,” intended to bring the Lake District to the reader rather than guide the reader through the landscape.

By the turn of the twentieth century, the Valentine Company was a major producer of images of Britain and empire. Arguably, the purpose of the book is to sell the company’s iconic postcards and photographs as much as to promote actual travel to the region.

Easton Smith Valentine, Wordsworth’s Country, as interpreted by his poetry, 1900.