Diary Of Young Women's Travel, Illustrated With Snapshots

MARY SILVIA HENRY

Publication: 1927-1928, NP

5 3/4" x 3 3/4" in burgundy boards with title (My Travels) in gilt. Illustrated publisher's title leaf followed by 50 leaves with printed, ruled entry blanks, 20 leaves with entries in ink holograph to rectos and versos (approximately 2500 words total). All page edges gilt. Five black and white silver print snapshots photographs, uniform prints each approximately 4" x 2 3/4" and a cut photo scrap. Snapshots with manuscript notations to versos. A journal of 1920s women's domestic travel through the Northeast and into Canada (Montreal), mostly by automobile and kept by Mary Sylvia Henry (born about 1901) of Milton Mills, New Hampshire. Most of the diary (about 34 of its pages) cover two different road trips taken in the summers of 1927 and 1928, respectively. The balance (about 6 pages) summarizes previous trips taken from about 1924 to 1927. A particularly eventful entry from September 15, 1928, en route to Montreal: "Just above Danville (New Hampshire) we traveled over some good roads & also noted a beautiful Reservoir on our left. But from then on we ran into road construction & in some places it was just terrible. In one stretch they were cutting away the side of a mountain, and just as [we] were starting up towards the top, we saw this Ford coming over the crest of the hill, & the occupants jumping out one by one. It seems the car had no brakes, so the driver told the women to jump, it was a very funny sight to see them jumping out one by one & each one doing her best to hold the car back. The car finally crossed the road & stopped, only when it struck fast in a Sand Bank." One trip is illustrated by five endearing snapshots of a circa-1928 road trip from Boston to Bethlehem, New Hampshire, picturing Henry and her frequent traveling companions, "Betty" and "Jennie." First leaf adhered to verso of title leaf. Otherwise clean, sound. Entries in a neat, highly legible cursive. Some mild handling wear to photos. Very good. A compact, though neat and endearing travel memoir, uncommonly illustrated by original photographs, of women's travel experience in the 1920s.

Inventory Number: 43909