A Victorian Woman in an Adventurer’s Cloak

AMAZING TRAVELER: ISABELLA BIRD: The Biography of a Victorian Adventurer by Evelyn Kaye (Blue Penguin Publications, $19.95, paperback, photographs).

In 1856, Isabella Bird, a sickly 22-year-old Englishwoman, sailed to North America and traveled about for six months. On returning, she wrote a book about her sojourn, called “An Englishwoman in America.” It was a hit. Over the years, more adventures and books followed: Australia, Hawaii, the American West, Japan, Korea, the Middle East, central Asia. Her florid, romantic-descriptive writing style was hugely popular (and emulated by generations of travel writers).

For that era, Bird’s adventures were remarkable; that they were experienced by a high-minded, hypochondriac daughter of a British clergyman was phenomenal. Unfortunately, Evelyn Kaye delves little into this phenomenon. With an oddly Victorian sensibility of her own, Kaye mostly averts her eyes from such issues as sex, sexism, class and social context to concentrate on the chronology of Bird’s life.

Still, while “Amazing Traveler” is a superficial biography, Bird’s sheer intrepidness makes it move along briskly. Much of the good stuff comes when Kaye quotes directly from Bird’s own writings. There are some wonderful cinematic scenes in Hawaii, where Bird throws propriety to the trade winds. For a horseback ride to a volcano she (gasp!) puts on trousers and rides astride instead of sidesaddle. In Hilo, she watches a surfing exhibition: “The sea was so blue, the sunlight so soft, the air so sweet. People were all holiday-making and enjoying themselves, the surf-bathers in the sea and hundreds of gaily-dressed men and women galloping on the beach.”

You can almost see the grip of frigid English conventionality loosening as she witnesses this sybaritic scene. We can only wonder if she loosened her English flannel skirt and joined in.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK: A 100 Year Perspective, photos by John Fielder and Enos Mills, text by T.A. Barron and Enos Mills (Westcliffe, $70). I once thought the phrase “coffee table book” meant a book you put on a coffee table. After seeing “Rocky Mountain,” I realize it can also mean a book that can be used as a coffee table. It’s big and heavy, and filled with mountain scenery. The first 41 photos are by Enos Mills, a turn-of-the-century outdoorsman/photographer who founded the park. The subsequent 143 photos, in color, were shot specifically to mark the park’s centennial. The text (mostly expanded captions) is by Mills and Colorado writer T.A. Barron.

ARTHUR FROMMER’S NEW WORLD OF TRAVEL by Arthur Frommer (Macmillan, $19.95, paperback).

Because Frommer is painting with broad strokes in this, the fifth edition of his alternative travel catalog, the listings are not definitive. However, the idea behind “New World” is exemplary: There’s a lot more to travel than sightseeing. (The irony is, of course, that Frommer, beginning with his “Europe on $5 a Day” guidebook, helped fuel the sightseeing boom.) Frommer’s “New World” includes cruising by freighter, renting village apartments, volunteer vacations and house exchanges. None are novel or adventurous ideas, but for those wanting to go beyond tours and resorts, this is an excellent place to get one’s bearings.

Quick trips:

THE SURFER’S TRAVEL GUIDE: A Handbook to Surf Paradise by Chris Ahrens (Chubasco Publishing Co., $14.95, paperback). Very little about surf spots and conditions. Mostly practical tips about transportation, lodging and health concerns. Lots of useful phone numbers. Fourteen top surf areas around the world (three in Hawaii) are outlined.

50 BEST SHORT HIKES IN CALIFORNIA DESERTS: In and Around Death Valley, Joshua Tree and Mojave by John Krist (Wilderness Press, $12.95, paperback, maps and photos). A compact geologic and human history introduces each of the three areas. Each hike is described in a couple of pages. All route maps are lumped together at the back of the book, forcing you to flip back and forth. The word “short” in the title is apt: The longest hike is 8.4 miles.

Books to Go appears the second and fourth week of every month.