Black Books and Southern Tours: Tone and Perspective in the Travel Writing of Mrs. Anne Royall

Between 1826 and 1831 Anne Royall published nine volumes of travel writing, together with a volume of letters written while she was living and touring in Alabama. Frequently repetitious, often limited in their scope, and highly opinionated, these books provide an insight into American society during the 1820s from a very particular viewpoint. This paper explores this particularity. It argues that although some scholars have suggested there is an identifiable feminine perspective in female travel writing, Royall's writings do not readily match these criteria. As a consequence Royall's writings raise questions about the existing paradigms of female travel writing.