Page 41 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

Fig. 5

the goodwill of the author and how helpful he wished to be to no difficulty in renting an estate of this kind to meet their every need and louis, others 4-5 louis, the cheapest 3 louis per month. The house in which ideal of self-reliance is an important element in the creation of a tourist
his readers. While such subjectivity does not seem to have caused desire in the most beautiful countryside on the banks of Lake Geneva.’ one stays must be chosen with care, since the society into which one will industry in the nineteenth century. It turned travelling into a completely
problems in the beginning, in the closing years of the eighteenth He goes on to quote the prices charged and recommends be admitted usually depends on the persons in whose home one lodges. risk-free operation because contacts with the unknown were reduced to an
century, travel writers began to feel they should justify their applying in advance to rent a house. However, his translator, Those who live in the best boarding houses can count on being received in absolute minimum.’ 18
decision as to what should be included, as Heinrich Reichard Samuel Wyttenbach, felt constrained to add a footnote: ‘Here, the the town’s best circles. Those who take bed and board in less commendable
did in 1793: ‘I believe it will please my readers if I give them a list of author appears to have been wrongly informed; I know one such country houses have scarcely any dealings with people of distinction unless they INFRASTRUCTURE AND INDUSTRIALISATION
inns where I know from experience that the guest will be very comfortable. house near Lausanne, for which an English family paid one hundred louis are provided with personal recommendations. Gaming is customary in all ‘Modern’ travel guides first began to appear in the 1840s. This
However, in so doing, I do not mean to decry those where I have not stayed, per annum, fully furnished. Moreover, nowhere in the world could one circles; there is only a small number from which cards are banned.’ (Ebel, period saw the publication in quick succession of the three great
nor do I guarantee that those I mention should still be favoured, since, like have such a house unless one rented it for a full six months at half the 1805, vol. 3, pp. 217-218) nineteenth-century guides – the German Baedeker, the British
everything else, inns are subject to all manner of vicissitudes and changes.’ yearly rent; and in the region in question people are less easy to be fooled The same text appears almost in full in a pirated edition Murray and the French Joanne, forerunner of today’s Blue Guides.
(La République helvétique, vol. 4, page unnumbered, 1793) than elsewhere.’ (Ebel, 1795, vol. 1, pp. 42-43) of the Ebel guide published in Paris in 1816. At this time – and Switzerland, the most popular destination of the day, rapidly
Reichard’s comment provides three pieces of information Obviously, even though the locals were accustomed to even well into the 1820s – staying as a guest in a private house became the subject of a book in all three series: with Murray
which need to be underlined and put into perspective. The first is receiving guests, they might well have been motivated by self- continued to be problematic since, as Ebel points out, the place publishing in 1838, Joanne in 1841 and Baedeker in 1844 (the
the importance of experience. As the basis of all utilitarian travel interest and also lack the virtues of a good host. Once again, it was where travellers lodged had a bearing on the kind of people with first French edition appeared in 1852). Each in their own way
literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, experience a question of supply and demand. The 1805 edition of the Ebel whom they could socialise. The links between host and guest confirmed the virtual disappearance of private accommodation,
alone was generally considered sufficient qualification for guide clearly shows that both types of accommodation – inns and remained not only very strong, but continued to exert a powerful either by not mentioning it at all, by only mentioning inns and
writing a guidebook. This explains many aspects of the guides private houses – were current at the time. Ebel begins one chapter influence on what guests learned and experienced during their hotels or by referring to the erosion of the old ways, as Adolphe
of the period which may surprise a modern reader. The author by quoting the names of four different inns in Lausanne – ‘the lion stay. In the grand tradition of the classical Grand Tour, encounters Joanne does in the introduction to his 1841 guide: ‘A number
is not only an unbiased purveyor of information and knowledge, d’or, the couronne, the cerf, the aigle’ – with no comment, favourable with people – famous and not so famous – the opportunity to of travellers complain with fervour and indignation at the high cost of
he also appears as a witness in his own text. The second thing or otherwise. Later, he deals with private accommodation, which compare political and social systems, and to indulge in reflections Swiss inns. In general we have to acknowledge that such complaints have
Reichard points out is the problem encountered by all guides he seems to prefer since he devotes much more space to it. Even of a religious nature were considered just as important as visiting always seemed to us unjust and overstated. There is no doubt that there
when recommending hotels and inns – their unpredictability. so, it is almost impossible to decide objectively whether it is the significant places or seeing certain works of art. But, little by little, are in Switzerland greedy individuals who cleverly take advantage of every
A hotel recommended one day may not necessarily be worth personal preference of a gentleman whose tastes still tended very attention shifted away from what had been essential elements favourable situation; but […] is not accommodation in private houses
recommending a few months later. Besides, the time it took for much towards the classical or whether he is simply reporting on of the traditional tour as travel became increasingly based on becoming as absurd as it is impossible in countries visited each year by
guides to reach the bookshops and the time needed to carry what was still the most usual type of lodging. Despite the fact that individual requirements and personal preferences. The changes, at thousands of people of every nation?’ (Joanne,1841, p. 17)
out the necessary research and update information made it guidebooks were meant to be brief and to the point, Ebel devotes first mostly cultural and social, were to have consequences on the According to Joanne, at that precise moment traditional
difficult to meet readers’ needs. However, it is also noticeable a long paragraph to the subject: ‘Foreigners. The town’s magnificent purely practical level which would be reflected in the travel guides. hospitality was giving way to industrialised tourism. All three
that Reichard speaks of inns as the most usual type of visitor position and the good manners of the citizens of the middle and upper Since they sought to respond to the demands and needs of their guides bear this out by beginning their chapters on Lausanne
accommodation, a sure sign of the gradual move towards inns class in whose homes one finds all the courtesy and refinement of the best readership, they became very good barometers of the changing with lists and reviews of recommended hotels. It is noticeable
and hotels and away from private hospitality. circles, but not the vices and unbridled luxury of the big cities, together with scene. From the 1830s and 40s onwards, these transformations were that these reviews appear in a completely new position at the
The latter could take various forms and at this time was still the ease with which the French language may be thoroughly learned, make tangible. The former Grand Tour made way for tourism which, start of the chapter, rather than at the end or in the margin, and
far from being a thing of the past. In his first guide to Switzerland, Lausanne the favourite abode of a multitude of rich foreigners from all the in turn, brought about changes in infrastructure, both in terms that there is a linguistic change. What were once referred to
Instructions pour un voyageur qui se propose de parcourir la Suisse, nations of Europe. There are always large numbers of young English and of mobility with steam ships and the railway gradually replacing as inns are now called hotels. We also observe that these three
published in 1795, Johann Gottfried Ebel writes as follows: ‘In the other young persons of quality whose aim is to learn the language and the stagecoach, and accommodation with the professionally run trail-blazing guides recommend almost the same establishments:
vicinity of Geneva and in the entire Canton of Vaud, many country houses to acquire the habit of moving in society. Consequently, there are a large inns and hotels taking over from private board and lodging. These ‘Inns: Faucon, excellent, but rather expensive; – a new house, to be called
are let to travelling foreigners and their families. Such a family will find number of boarding houses for foreigners; the most expensive costing 6 advances inspired Laurent Tissot to write that ‘the promotion of the Hotel de Gibbon, is in progress (1838); Lion d’Or, a comfortable and

Jakob Samuel Weibel, View of Lausanne. Engraving, 1817.

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