Julia Pardoe

Pilgrimages in Paris (1857).By Julia Pardoe

Julia Pardoe (December 4, 1806 - November 26, 1862), was an English poet, novelist, historian and traveller. She was born at Beverley, Yorkshire, and showed an early interest in literature. She became a prolific and versatile writer, producing in addition to her lively and well-written novels many books on travel, and others dealing with historical subjects. She was a keen observer, and her travel to the East gave her an accurate and deep knowledge of the peoples and manners of the East. To modern readers she is probably best known for her books on her travels in Turkey, which are some of the earliest works by a woman on this area. In 1836 she travelled to Constantinople with her father, Major Thomas Pardoe. This voyage inspired her book The City of the Sultan (1836). Later she collaborated with the artist William Henry Bartlett to produce The Beauties of the Bosphorus (1839), an illustrated account of Constantinople.