A Day in Pisa: Historical, Artistic and Commercial Guide

Destantins Anthony, EveProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.6

Word count: 105K words
Chapters: 11

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.Une journée à Pise : guide historique, artistique et commercialAuthor: Destantins Anthony, Eve,Language: French, Class: DG: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Italy, Vatican City, Malta, Release Date: Jan 27, 2009

Editor's review

This is a city guide to Pisa written in French, with a subtitle indicating coverage of history, art and commerce; it belongs to an early practical travel handbook. Unlike today's illustrated, constantly updated guidebooks, its narrative is closer to a traditional tour commentary: it introduces the city's sights, churches and public buildings by route or theme, weaving in related historical anecdotes and commercial information. For today's readers its practical value has largely given way to documentary value—one can see how travelers a century ago were guided to view Pisa, which sites were highlighted, and which claims bear the marks of their era. The French prose is clear and the volume brief, making it suitable as supplementary material for urban history and travel culture studies, and for French-reading travelers who want some historical background before visiting. It should be read as a historical text rather than a current guide to food, lodging and transport.

Who it's for

A good fit for

French-reading travelers planning to visit Pisa who wish to understand early guidebook narratives
Students and enthusiasts of travel literature, the history of city guides, or Italian urban culture
Slow readers who enjoy historical background and do not rely on the latest practical information
Readers who need public-domain French texts for language learning or translation practice

Not a good fit for

Tourists needing up-to-date transport, ticket and opening-hours information
Readers who find French difficult and would prefer a Chinese guidebook
Readers expecting abundant images and maps who prefer visual guides

Reading tips

Read the history and art sections before departure, then compare buildings and streetscapes on site to sense the difference in narration
Read it as a historical text; don't worry about outdated information—focus on how the author organizes the city narrative
French learners can read a short section daily, noting descriptive vocabulary and set expressions to build tourism-scene language
Use it alongside a modern Pisa map, marking the key sites in the book to observe how touring routes have changed over a century

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.

FAQ

Can this guide still be used to plan a trip to Pisa?

It is not well suited as a primary practical guide. It was written long ago, and transport, opening hours and commercial information are all outdated. It is better used as a historical document to understand how early travelers viewed Pisa, paired with a contemporary guide for itinerary planning.

Can someone who doesn't know French read this book?

The original is in French, and available information shows no Chinese translation. Readers without French face a high barrier and would need translation tools or Pisa materials in other languages. If you only care about the city's history, look first for a Chinese or English Pisa guide as a substitute.

Does the book include pictures or maps?

Available information only describes it as a historical, artistic and commercial guide and does not mention illustrations or maps. Project Gutenberg's plain-text e-books are usually text-only; even if the original had images, the e-book may not retain them, so don't expect a visual guide.

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

Destantins Anthony, Eve Author

Eve Destantins Anthony is an author about whom limited public information is available; details such as nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not clearly recorded. Judging from the single work held in the collection, she wrote Une journée à Pise: guide historique, artistique et commercial, a guide to Pisa, Italy, covering its history, art and commerce. Structured around a one-day itinerary, it links the city's historical development, artistic heritage and commercial life, combining the practicality of a guidebook with the narrative quality of a cultural reader. The choice of subject suggests a sustained interest in on-site research and the organization of knowledge about historically and culturally significant European cities. Her prose tends to build on specific places, weaving background knowledge into the route so that readers gain a fairly complete impression of the city within a limited time. Given the limited material, her full body of work, field and later publications remain to be further verified.