Castles and Chateaux of Old Touraine and the Loire Country

Milburg Francisco MansfieldProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.9
Word count
402K words
Chapters
41

Tags

English Originals ArchitectureTravel Human GeographyHistorical ReappraisalCastle ArchitectureIllustrated GuideTravel GuideFrench Flavor

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Castles and Chateaux of Old Touraine and the Loire Country by M. F. MansfieldAuthor: Mansfield, M. F. (Milburg Francisco), 1871-,Language: English, Class: DC: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: France, Andorra, Monaco, Release Date: Aug 25, 2011

Editor's review

This book is an early travel account of the castles and chateaux of France's Loire Valley, a work of historical geography written in English. The author visits the castle architecture of Touraine and the Loire basin from a traveler's perspective, weaving together architectural exteriors, historical anecdotes, and the scenery along the way, so that it reads with the charm of both a guidebook and an essay. Its value lies not in rigorous scholarship but in preserving the tone of old-fashioned travel writing: unhurried, detailed, and respectful of ancient monuments. It serves well as an introductory reader on the Loire castles or as background reading before a trip. For researchers, it can serve as circumstantial evidence of how the early twentieth-century English-speaking world viewed French cultural heritage. It is best read alongside a map and current visitor information, since the transport and opening conditions mentioned in the book no longer match the present. The length suits slow reading, ideally castle by castle, without any need to finish it in one go.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. First find a map of the Loire castles and group the reading by location to avoid a scattered thread.
  2. After finishing each castle, jot down its architectural features and related anecdotes for later comparison on site.
  3. Read the book's descriptions alongside current official visitor information, distinguishing historical narrative from present-day changes.
  4. The English sentences are often long; read one chapter a day and mark place names first rather than verifying every word.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English? The main text is in English. It is a public-domain eBook released by Project Gutenberg, with the language marked as English; no Chinese translation is included with the book, so some English reading ability is required.
Is the travel information in the book still usable today? Not directly. The book was written long ago, and the transport, opening hours, and ticket details it mentions have long since changed. It is better suited as reading on historical background and architectural anecdotes; for actual travel, rely on the latest tourist information.
Can I read it without a background in French history? Yes, but it helps to first learn the broad historical outline of the Loire castles, such as royal and aristocratic building activity during the Renaissance. The book contains many personal and place names, and some background will make the narrative easier to follow.
Is it suitable as an academic citation source? It is not recommended as a core academic source. It is closer to travel-essay-style historical geography, lacking strict annotation and textual scholarship; it can serve as supplementary material on how the early English-speaking world understood French monuments, but citations should be carefully verified.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Milburg Francisco Mansfield Author · American · 1871

M. F. Mansfield (Milburg Francisco Mansfield, born 1871) was an American travel writer and publisher, with 13 works held in this collection. He often wrote under the pen name Francis Miltoun and collaborated with his wife, the artist Blanche McManus, on a number of illustrated travel books. His subjects centre on the historic architecture and townscapes of Europe, especially the cathedrals, castles and royal palaces and parks of France and the Rhine region. He also wrote literary-themed rambles through Paris and London, as well as an account of travelling through Italy by motor car. These books combine architectural observation, historical anecdote and travel impressions with illustrations, aimed at general readers, and are representative of early twentieth-century English-language travel writing. Public information about his life is limited, and his reputation rests chiefly on these illustrated travel works.