A historical exploration of the experiences of women travelers in Asia, as told through their firsthand accounts, illustrations, and personal objects. 

Women travelers have often been overlooked in the history of travel literature, despite the originality and significance of their records of movement, encounter, and place. Crossing Boundaries brings together diverse materials documenting women’s journeys in Asia from the mid-eighteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. Together, these sources offer a fascinating portrait of how women navigated and chose to represent their independence, exploration, and life abroad. 

Among the wealth of sources featured in this volume is Fanny Parks’s lavishly illustrated memoir, Wanderings of a Pilgrim, In Search of the Picturesque, which documents her twenty-four years of living and traveling in India. Also included are the previously unpublished journals of French salon artist Marguerite Geraud and the original typescript of Emily Metcalfe Bayley’s memoir. Drawing on extensive research in travel literature and materials from her own collection, Nancy K. Boehm brings these and other remarkable sources together to reveal the domestic, social, and emotional dimensions of women’s lives while resonating with traditional themes in exploration narratives. 

This volume makes a valuable contribution to the emerging study of travel within the field of Women’s studies, bringing new attention to a rich but often overlooked chapter in the history of travel literature.