Glories of Spain.
EXTRACTS FROM THE PRESS.
"In 'Glories of Spain' Mr. Charles W. Wood has added another highly-interesting volume to his series of books dealing with Continental travel. We ourselves have seen just enough of Spain to make us long to see more, and the beautifully illustrated book before us, with its glowing descriptions of architecture and scenery, renders this longing well-nigh irresistible. Mr. Wood has all the zeal of an enthusiast for all that is really beautiful in Nature or in art. He has the pen of a ready writer, he is keenly observant of all those small details which go to make up a beautiful picture, and he is able to transfer to paper, in most realistic form, the impressions he has gathered.... This book is something more than a guide, even of the highest character. The author makes friends with all sorts and conditions of men and women, and by his own sympathetic character draws from each his life's story, which is here set down in telling manner. Mr. Wood is gifted, too, with an ample fund of humour."—Westminster Gazette.
"Mr. Wood is an ideal guide. A keen observer, nothing escapes his practised eye, whilst his highly cultivated artistic instincts and tastes revel in the atmosphere of romance and poetry in which the country is steeped; and his 'enthusiasm for humanity' makes him feel an interest in every human being with whom he is brought into contact. There are some delightful talks with all sorts and conditions of men and women in the book."—Literature.
"Mr. Wood's new volume has all the charm of his earlier books. It is a world of enchantment into which we wander, and Mr. Wood knows how to excite our interest in the quaint houses, the gorgeous cathedrals, and the warm-hearted people in the north-eastern corner of Spain. Mr. Wood is an enthusiast, and his readers will quickly share his enthusiasm. His pictures are works of art, steeped in poetry and sunshine."—London Quarterly Review.
"This narrative of travel affords light and pleasant reading. Mr. Wood has an agreeable way, like certain old-fashioned travellers, of breaking the stream of travel or of description with some romantic story. These episodes add not a little to the reader's enjoyment."—St. James's Gazette.
"Readers of Mr. Wood's travel books scarcely require any reminder of the bright and facile style in which he records the impressions and incidents of his wayfaring."—Westminster Gazette.
"Mr. Wood is an excellent cicerone and, moreover, has what every traveller in a foreign country has not—an evident capacity for making friends with the natives. He is an enthusiastic admirer of the beauties alike of Spanish nature and Spanish art."—Pall Mall Gazette.
"By degrees the persevering reader begins to realise that he is 'doing' Catalonia in the company of one who not only possesses a fund of quiet humour and a cultivated mind, and an observant eye for the beauties of Nature and of the works of man, but is also endowed with a fine power of sympathy, which attracts to him, in quite an unusual degree, the confidence of those with whom he comes in contact."—Daily News.
"Mr. Wood's 'Glories of Spain' is enough to increase perceptibly the flow of travellers in Spain.... The real value of the book will be found in its treatment of the architectural and other glories which still remain to the impoverished Peninsula. Mr. Wood's account of them and their associations ought to divert the attention of tourists with means and energy from more conventional paths."—Yorkshire Post.
"Mr. Wood has a singularly fascinating style in presenting his impressions of these old-world lands. To an observant eye and a listening ear he adds a charm of manner which is rare amongst authors who specialise in travel-talk. The book makes excellent reading. It is a book to get, a book to read, and a book to keep."—Sheffield Daily Telegraph.
"Mr. Wood has provided us with such a charming description of his travels that deep regret is felt when the sojourn in Spain draws to its close—regret which, we are sure, must have been very keenly felt by the author. This regret will be thus felt by Mr. Wood's readers. Mr. Wood is a consummate artist in his special field of literature, as the reading public long since discovered. In this last book we are not disappointed. 'Glories of Spain' is indeed a charming literary production, and seems to us a book to keep in a prominent place upon the exclusive bookshelf, a book to be read and re-read, a book to love."—Western Daily Press.
"We should like to dwell at greater length on a book which is so brimful of the charm of a lovely land and an interesting people; but we trust enough has been said to recommend it to the attention of all lovers of the picturesque, whether in Nature or humanity."—Glasgow Herald.
"A subject so entrancing in the hands of so experienced a traveller as Mr. Charles W. Wood could not fail to prove interesting.... Mr. Wood has a keen appreciation of the ludicrous, and can relate a comical incident or a practical joke with appropriate lightness; while he is by no means insensible to the pathos and romance inseparable from Spanish story.... The book is so equal in style that it is difficult to select one portion of it as being better than the rest.... He relates tales of Saragosa as moving and pathetic as any ever imagined by poet or novelist. Valencia, the 'Garden of Spain,' also receives its share of eloquent and vivid language; and, indeed, there is no place within the wide range of this tour which does not supply some prolific theme for the author's glowing pen."—Dundee Advertiser.
"Mr. Wood's brilliant word-sketches, with never a line too much, give exactly the true feeling for Spanish architecture and the picturesque scenes of Spanish life.... What one finds above all is the insight into human nature and the comprehension of suffering and self-denial in unexpected places, which are qualities in an author the rarest and choicest. Anyone can describe, after a fashion, the old cities of northern Spain, but very few can make their people live in cold print and draw the reader to them by the warm touch of sympathy. This Mr. Wood does, and does amazingly. This book is a gallery of Spanish portraits, full of character, and pathos, and humour, and simplicity. We would not spare one of them, and we do not know which we like best; all we wish is that the author may go again and paint us some more."—Saturday Review.
