Bartram's Travels Illustrated

A newly discovered illustrated version of the famous book by William Bartram, American naturalist, writer, and explorer

In 1934, when William G. Haynes Jr. was an art student in New York City, he illustrated his own version of the 1791 classic Bartram's Travels. William Bartram's poetic descriptions transcended science to deeply influence an array of nineteenth-century Romantic poets in America and abroad. Similarly, Haynes's watercolors were inspired by vivid descriptions from Bartram's Southern expedition spanning 1773–1777.

These ninety-five watercolors accompanied by Bartram's text tell Haynes's version of the Bartram story, drawn from twentieth-century landscapes Haynes knew intimately from childhood: coastal Georgia, western North Carolina, and northern Florida. Although Bartram never drew a self-portrait, Haynes features Bartram on nearly every page: botanizing, engaging with Native Americans and settlers alike, and sometimes battling alligators and the elements.

Following service in World War II and postwar study of typography, Haynes returned home to Darien, Georgia, in 1955 to start the Ashantilly Press. It became not only a place to create beautiful books and broadsides but also to teach this craft and inspire the next generation of artists and environmentalists. This book is especially timely as America marks the 250th anniversary of Bartram's travels across the South—a man whose impact is still felt in American science, arts, and letters.