Guidebooks for the Tourist
Emily Sibley Watson’s preconceived notions of the Orient probably derived from popular culture as well as guidebooks that were common reading for the tourist. She refers to the Arabian Nights, likely known to her in Edward Lane’s bowdlerized version, first published in 1840. She may also have been familiar with Lane’s 1836 Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, editions of which were still being published in the early 20th century, and which described Egyptians in terms of racial “types.” Her view of Granada and the Alhambra was surely influenced by Washington Irving’s Tales of the Alhambra, first published in 1832. While in Egypt, she recommends Amelia B. Edwards' A Thousand Miles up the Nile, first published in 1877, telling her mother that “I am enjoying it so much.” She describes purchasing guidebooks to Luxor, but unfortunately does not identify which works were purchased: “At Luxor we bought a number of books on Egypt and now we are all studying away most diligently.”