In Search of H. V. Morton - Softcover

Witty, elegant, and engaging, H.V.Morton was the world's first great travel writer in the sense that we think of the term today. From the outset of his career as a Fleet Street journalist present at the opening of Tutenkhamun's tomb, to his death in South Africa in 1979, Morton crisscrossed the world and compressed his character and experience into dozens of hugely influential travel books, which sold in their millions during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and which continue to delight readers and travelers throughout the world today. But despite his success, Morton was a private man, determined to reveal to his readers only what was printed on the pages of the books. Written with full access to H.V. Morton's diaries and letters held at his estate in South Africa, Michael Bartholomew's comprehensive biography describes the life and personality of a uniquely charismatic man. Examining the dichotomy Morton felt between his personal and public personas, and his often dramatic relationships with members of the opposite sex, In Search of H.V.Morton coaxes into light a writer who was determined to stay in the shade.

Michael Bartholomew has taught at University College London and The Open University, and has written on Darwin, Lyell, Huxley and on the 18th-century naval doctor James Lind.