
Mark Twain enjoyed immense public popularity during his lifetime, & was already one the best-known authors in America when, in 1895, he set out on a worldwide lecture tour, undertaken to help him recover from bankruptcy following the failure of his publishing company. Starting in Paris, he journeyed across America to Vancouver, & thence, via Hawaii & Fiji, to Australia & New Zeal&, in both of which countries he travelled widely. At the end of the year, he sailed from Sydney to Colombo, & became captivated by the Indian sub-continent, its people & their customs. Arriving in South Africa four months after the Jameson Raid, he had ample opportunity to employ his acerbic wit on the deteriorating relationship between the British & the Afrikaaners. Following the Equator is the fifth & most interesting of Twain’s travel narratives, & the one that most bears out the declaration that he once wrote to his mother: “I am wild with impatience to move – move – Move!” Stanfords Travel Classics feature some of the finest historical travel writing in the English language, with authors hailing from both sides of the Atlantic. Every title has been reset in a contemporary typeface to create a series that every lover of fine travel literature will want to collect & keep.