Rough Notes and Curious Fragments

Travel back two hundred years, before the invention of photography and film, to a time when all observations from the field were carried home in journals, charts, and artworks. Back then, the whole success of an expedition might lie in the marks made with pencil and ink, recorded in small notebooks. The lines contained in these little journals had the power to change the world—in the form of scientific discoveries, descriptions of distant lands and new species, or experiences that could lead to greater understanding—and despite dramatic advances in technology and equipment over the centuries, this one vital piece of kit in most explorers’ pockets hasn’t changed much at all: the journal. It is the means to provide a lasting record; within it lies the opportunity to recount a story in case the traveler never makes it back alive.

The journals of the explorers, adventurers, and pioneering artists assembled here span centuries. They tell a story of trying to discover a world