Jude Brosnan

Women’s History Month: Exploring Female Travellers

By Rosemary J Brown

Women in history shouldn’t be a mystery … and that includes female travellers. Challenged by traditions that placed them firmly in the home, these women burst through social and geographical boundaries to explore, experience and document the world.

Women like intrepid explorer Isabella Bird (1831–1904), queen of the desert Gertrude Bell (1868–1926) who mapped out Iraq, and wayfaring biologist Mary Kingsley (1862–1900). They all left their inhibitions at home and journeyed into the unknown alone. But the female traveller I know best of all is trailblazing journalist Nellie Bly (1864-1922) who circled the world faster than anyone ever had – 72 days – in 1890.

EXPLORER: the Quest for Adventure and the Great Unknown by Benedict Allen

– by Benedict Allen

This is the story of an extraordinary quest by a lone explorer, one that ends dramatically, deep in the heart of New Guinea. But it’s also a story about all of us – for we all have dreams and challenges, and we are all explorers of our world.

2022 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards

Launched in 2015, the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards (ESTWA) seek to celebrate the best travel writing, and travel writers, in the world. Many figures from the travel writing genre gathered at Stanfords London on 3rd March to celebrate.

Vivien Godfrey, Chairman and Chief Executive of Stanfords, said “Travel writing has become even more important in the past two years. Despite not been able to travel as much as we’d like, we’ve been able to see the world through books and are delighted to be able to come together to celebrate the wonderful writing that has flourished out of these challenging times.”

In total 33 books made the shortlists, divided into eight awards categories with winners being both debut authors and award-winning writers. The judging panels included authors Lois Pryce, Jini Reddy, Julia Wheeler, Lucy Popescu, Nicholas Jubber, the MD of Trip Fiction website Tina Hartas, Travel Writing World Podcast’s Jeremy Bassetti, Stanfords booksellers and members of the Stanfords senior team.

Map of the Month: Faroe Islands Solberg-F&B Road Map

Our Map of the Month for March 2022 is the Faroe Islands Solberg-F&B Road Map

18 jagged volcanic islands make up the Faroe Islands. A unique and inimitable destination at the edge of the world. A place truly unspoiled, unexplored and unbelievable.

Our wanderlust levels have recently been heightened by this brand new edition of the Faroe Islands map published by Freytag & Berndt in cooperation with the locally based Henrik Solberg. It includes the newly opened 11km underwater tunnel network that connects the islands of Streymoy and Eysturoy. At it’s deepest the tunnel is 613ft below sea level and it features the world’s first underwater roundabout.

Book of the Month: Explorer

Our Book of the Month for March 2022 is Explorer: The Quest for Adventure by Benedict Allen.

This enquiry into the explorer mindset is part meditation, part memoir, from one of ‘Britain’s greatest explorers’ (Telegraph)

What does it mean to be an explorer in the twenty-first century?

Top 3 Birds in South America

My Top Three Birds in South America

by Michael Webster, author of The Condor’s Feather

For five years we followed and filmed birds the length of the continent. We started in Tierra del Fuego and blazed trails in our Toyota Hilux along the length of the Andes all the way to the Caribbean coast of Colombia. We survived dust storms in Patagonia, treacherous floods in the rainforests, slept in sub-zero temperatures with the aid of oxygen masks and finally were inches away from being swept out to sea. It was our love for birds and supporting those protecting them that kept us going. Out of a list of a thousand species seen here are the three species that resonate in my memories.

Five Favourite Children’s Books with Maps in them

Our Children’s Book of the Month is the very fitting for Stanfords The Mapmakers by Tamzin Merchant. We return to the spellbinding world of Cordelia Hatmaker in this soaring magical sequel to ‘The Hatmakers’. Here, Tamzin tells us about her favourite children’s books featuring maps.

Five Otherlands to Visit Across Deep Time

Our Book of the Month for February 2022 is Otherlands: A World in the Making by Thomas Halliday. It is an epic, exhilarating journey into deep time, showing us the Earth as it used to exist, and the worlds that were here before ours. Travelling back in time to the dawn of complex life, and across all seven continents, award-winning young palaeobiologist Thomas Halliday gives us a mesmerising up close encounter with eras that are normally unimaginably distant.

In this guest blog post, Halliday explores five otherlands to visit across deep time.

Children’s Book of the Month: The Mapmakers

Stanfords Children’s Book of the Month for February 2022 is The Mapmakers by Tamzin Merchant, illustrated by Paola Escobar. All our copies are signed by the author.

Return to the spellbinding world of Cordelia Hatmaker in this soaring magical sequel to The Hatmakers. Perfect for fans of Nevermoor, A Pinch of Magic and Harry Potter.

Map of the Month: 1904 Stanford’s Map of the Siberian Railway

Our Map of the Month for February 2022 is the 1904 Stanford’s Map of the Siberian Railway.

The Stanford’s Map of the Siberian Railway is from a fascinating series of reproductions from our Edward Stanford Cartographic Collection archive.

Depicting the great land route to China and Korea, this map was published by Edward Stanford, Long Acre on the 1st February 1904.

This vital rail route was also known as the Moscow Highway or the Tea Route because of the large quantities of tea exported from China. It connected European Russia to Siberia and China. Construction started in 1730 and was not completed until the mid 19th-century.