William D. Wade European travel journal

Travel journal (3 volumes) of William D. Wade of Brooklyn, NY, while on an extended trip to Europe from February to October, 1870. Wade traveled with his sister Emma C. Wade and cousin Emilie B. Pratt, as well as their courier, Louis Heritier. The group spent most of their European tour in cities throughout Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, with shorter stops in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. Wade described in detail the trio's extensive sightseeing activities and the people they encountered. He often gave pointed commentary on the characteristics of a locality and its denizens (Naples: “fair, but far from healthful”; Hampton Court Place: "old, musty, dilapidated but very interesting"; Amsterdam residents: "seem to thrive, and wax fat" despite the "fungi" and "decaying matter" in their canals). The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War cut short Wade and his companions' travels in continental Europe; the journal contains details of their hasty retreat from Cologne to Amsterdam and finally to the shores of England.

The journals contain an index including the cities and hotels where the group stayed and dates of their stays. Two pages at the end of the third volume reflect on the journey from a year's distance. The size and condition of the journal, as well as the narrative form it takes, suggest that it may have been written after the trip itself.