|
|
Loading... A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains (The Western Frontier Library Series) (original 1879; edition 1975)| 893 | 18 | 23,915 | 
(4.05) | 1 / 63 | After the success of The Englishwoman in America (also reissued in this series), the indefatigable Isabella Bird (1831-1904) continued her travels - first to Scotland, then to Australia and Hawaii - before returning to the United States and taking up residence in what was then the newest state, Colorado. Her adventures here - recorded as letters to her sister which she artlessly tells the reader were never intended for publication - included riding alone across the prairie, trying to help a family dying of cholera in the face of indifference from the local inhabitants, a sight of the invalids who were coming to Denver in huge numbers to be cured by the mountain air, and an encounter (if it was nothing more) with that western archetype, the one-eyed, romantic, courteous, poetry-declaiming outlaw, who by the following year was 'in a dishonoured grave, with a rifle bullet in his brain'.… (more) |
▾Book information ▾LibraryThing Recommendations ▾Will you like it?
Loading...
 Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. ▾Conversations (About links) ▾Series and work relationships Belongs to Publisher SeriesIs contained inIs abridged inHas as a reference guide/companion
|
|
| Canonical title |
|
| Original title |
|
| Alternative titles |
|
| Original publication date |
|
| People/Characters |
|
| Important places |
|
| Important events |
|
| Related movies |
|
| Epigraph |
|
| Dedication |
To my sister, to whom these letters were originally written, they are now affectionately dedicated.  | |
|
| First words |
I have found a dream of beauty at which one might look all one's life and sigh. [Introduction, B&N edition] Like the glorious after glow so often described in A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, Isabella Bird's impassioned travelogue continues to delight us long after its initial publication in 1879. [Note to the Second Edition] For the benefit of other lady travellers, I wish to explain that my "Hawaiian riding dress" is the "American Lady's Mountain Dress," a half-fitting jacket, a skirt reaching to the ankles, and full Turkish trousers gathered into frills falling over the boots,--a thoroughly serviceable and feminine costume for mountaineering and other rough travelling, as in the Alps of any other part of the world. [Note to the Third Edition] In consequence of the unobserved omission of a date to my letters having been pointed out to me, I take this opportunity of stating that I travelled in Colorado in the autumn and early winter of 1873, on my way to England from the Sandwich Islands. | |
|
| Quotations |
|
| Last words |
A drive of several hours over the Plains brought us to Greeley, and a few hours later, in the far blue distance, the Rocky Mountains, and all that they enclose, went down below the prairie sea. (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)[Introduction, B&N edition] More than just a classic travelogue, Isabella Bird's A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains speaks across generations, emboldening women to explore their own paths of life. (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.) | |
|
| Disambiguation notice |
|
| Publisher's editors |
|
| Blurbers |
|
| Original language |
|
| Canonical DDC/MDS |
|
| Canonical LCC |
|
▾References References to this work on external resources.  Wikipedia in English
None ▾Book descriptions After the success of The Englishwoman in America (also reissued in this series), the indefatigable Isabella Bird (1831-1904) continued her travels - first to Scotland, then to Australia and Hawaii - before returning to the United States and taking up residence in what was then the newest state, Colorado. Her adventures here - recorded as letters to her sister which she artlessly tells the reader were never intended for publication - included riding alone across the prairie, trying to help a family dying of cholera in the face of indifference from the local inhabitants, a sight of the invalids who were coming to Denver in huge numbers to be cured by the mountain air, and an encounter (if it was nothing more) with that western archetype, the one-eyed, romantic, courteous, poetry-declaiming outlaw, who by the following year was 'in a dishonoured grave, with a rifle bullet in his brain'. ▾Library descriptions No library descriptions found. ▾LibraryThing members' description
| Book description |
Born in 1831, Isabella, daughter of a clergyman, set off alone to the Antipodes in 1872 'in search of health' and found she had embarked on a life of adventurous travel. In 1873, wearing Hanaiian riding dress, she rode on her spirited horse Birdie through the American 'Wild West', a terrain only recently opened to a pioneer settlement. Here she met Rocky Mountain Jim, her 'dear (one-eyed) desperado', found of poetry and whiskey - 'a man any women might love, but no sane woman would marry'. He helped her climb the 'American Matterhorn' and round up cattle on horseback. The wonderful letters which make up this volume were first published in 1879 and were enormously popular in Isabella Bird's lifetime. They tell of magnificent unspoiled landscapes and abundant wildlife, of small remote townships, of her encounters with rattlesnakes, wolves, pumas and grizzly bears and her reactions to the volatile passions of the miners and pioneer settlers. | |
|
|
 Google Books — Loading... Swap (5 have, 10 want) |
)
)
2
I found the first third of this book rather dull, and the author somewhat judgmental. I was tempted to abandon it, but I'm glad I didn't.
The book is a collection of journal-style letters written by Bird to her sister, and they detail her solo journeys by horseback around Colorado in 1873. Much of the book is simply Bird describing the scenery and weather conditions, and there is some commentary on various companions she meets along the way.
Her love for a simple life lived out of doors made me long to return to my similar experience of bicycling across several states and tenting overnights.
This is a book I'd recommend primarily to nature-lovers, as not much happens story-wise.
"This is a view to which nothing needs to be added... This scenery satisfies my soul." p 55 (