Baynard Taylor was one of the most popular travel writers of his time, producing eleven volumes of his own accounts and lecturing throughout the United States to large audiences. From the time his first travel book appeared in 1846 virtually until his death, he never really quit traveling or writing about it. Always adventurous, he went to places and attempted feats not usual for travelers, thereby making accessible largely unknown regions of the world to a popular audience and making himself a romantic figure. Describing people and places vividly, he enthusiastically participated in several of the cultures he visited, often attempting to assume the characteristics of those persons whom he was observing; by this means he engaged his readers more fully than most other travel writers of his time.

Bayard Taylor (occasionally listed, incorrectly, as James Bayard Taylor) was born of English and German ancestry in Kennett Square, Chester...