Travel accounts online

Historical books online

• Hakluytus posthumus, or, Purchas his Pilgrimes: contayning a history of the world in sea voyages and lande travells by Englishmen and others by Samuel Purchas 1905 reprint, original 1625 Archive.org. Volume II, Contents. Volume III, Contents. Volume IV, Contents. Volume V, Contents. Other volumes: Archive.org

• The travels of Pietro della Valle in India : from the old English translation of 1664, edited by Edward Grey (late Bengal Civil Service) 1892 Archive.org Volume I, Volume II. Pietro della Valle arrived in India 10 February 1623 at Surat, embarking from Goa 16 November 1624.
• A new account of East-India and Persia : : in eight letters being nine years travels, begun 1672 and finished 1681 by John Fryer 1698 London. Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek. Includes Bombaim [Bombay], Surat. Goa. Includes, facing p114 drawings of the Areca Nut or Betele nut, and other plants.
• ‪ A Voyage to Suratt: In the Year, 1689‬ by John Ovington. Chaplain to his Majesty. 1696 Google Books

A Voyage To Surat In The Year 1689 by John Ovington, edited by H G Rawlinson, with commentary, 1929 is available to download as a pdf from Osmania University Digital Library [OUDL]. Restricted download hours may possibly apply. This book is also available to read online on the Digital Library of India website.

• A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time‬ by Robert Kerr 1824 editions, first published c 1811. Volumes VI, VII, VIII, IX have the majority of the content relating to India, other volumes listed have less relevant content, (while volumes not listed to do appear to have any relevant content). Google Books, Archive.org, and Hathi Trust Digital Library. Volume I, Contents.Volume II, Contents. Volume VI, Contents. Volume VII, Contents. Volume VIII 1813 edition Contents, Volume VIII 1824. Volume IX Contents.Volume XI, Contents. Vol XVII, Contents (Includes of a voyage including Macao and Canton). Volume XVIII A Summary volume titled Historical Sketch by William Stevenson
• ‪India in the Fifteenth Century‬: ‪Being a Collection of Narratives of Voyages to India ... from Latin, Persian, Russian and Italian Sources ... Translated Into English‬ edited by Richard Henry Major 1857 Google Books
• A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century by Duarte Barbosa, a Portuguese. Translated from an early Spanish manuscript in the Barcelona library with notes and a preface by Henry E. J. Stanley. 1866 Google Books
• India in the seventeenth century, as depicted by European travellers by JN Das Gupta 1916 Archive.org
• Early English Adventurers in the East by Arnold Wright 1917 Archive.org
• Oriental Repertory by Alexander Dalrymple Volume 1 1793 and Volume 2 1808. The two volumes contain many tracts on the history, industries, etc. of India, China, and Indo-China, including travel, journeys etc first published at irregular intervals, in eight "numbers," from April 1791 to April 1797
  • Oriental Repertory, Volume 1 by Alexander Dalrymple 1793 Archive.org.
    • Table of Contents; General Index of Places including List of Synonimes; General Index of Things; General Index of Persons
  • Oriental Repertory, Volume 2 is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website.

Table of Contents, computer pages 28-31;General index of Persons commencing part O-Z computer pages 632-633;General Index of Things A-Z computer pages 634-637

For more details of the author, see List of Indian Civil Servants

• Further India: being the story of exploration from the earliest times in Burma, Malaya, Siam and Indo-China by Hugh Clifford 1904 with Orographical Map and Political Map of Farther India and Index Archive.org
• Selections from the Travels and Journals Preserved in the Bombay Secretariat Contents Edited by George W. Forrest, C.I.E., ex-Director of Records, Government of India. 1906 Archive.org
• Wall-Street to Cashmere‬: ‪A Journal of Five Years in Asia, Africa and Europe‬ by John B Ireland 1859 Google Books ”With nearly one hundred illustrations, from sketches made on the spot by the author” Archive.org version Some individual pages may be clearer. The author arrived in India in January 1853 and departed April 1854, with a journey to Ceylon, Java and Singapore in the middle . He was an American lawyer John Busteed Ireland 1823- 1913
• In the Himalayas and on the Indian Plains by C F [Constance Frederica] Gordon Cumming, with Illustrations 1884 Archive.org. Some parts of the book were first published in 1876 in From the Hebrides to the Himalayas.
• From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan Translated from the Russian of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Reprinted 1908 (originally published 1892) Archive.org
• Following the Equator : a Journey Around the World by Mark Twain 1897 Archive.org. From Chapter XXXVII, page 331 the author travels from Sydney to India, via Ceylon. Contents
• A collection of photographs from India Illustrated: Being a Collection of Pictures of the Cities of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, Together with a Selection of the Most Interesting Buildings and Scenes throughout India, published by Bennett, Coleman, & Co., publishers of the English language newspaper Times of India, c 1905. University of Houston Digital Library.
• India through the stereoscope : a journey through Hindustan by James Ricalton 1907. Archive.org [He travelled in 1901-1903].This book was sold with a collection of photographs which could be viewed through a stereoscope. Stereographs copyrighted 1903. Examples, including from flickr.com and the British Library: No. 28 'Ekka' with passenger and baggage, coming from Cashmere (Kashmir) to Murree, No 30. Before Christ Church, at Simla, No. 35 Inflated bullock skin boat, or dreas, at the side of the river Sutlej, enlargeable. No 75. Curiously rigged camel-waggons, Delhi, No. 80 The great Durbar procession, Delhi, India enlargable. No 87. Palace of the Winds, Jeypore, India. A collection of these photographs reprinted 1923-1931 Smith College Libraries. Northampton, MA, USA

The Overland Route to and from India

• “Remarks and Occurrences in a Journey from Aleppo to Bassora by way of the Desert" by William Beawes, Esqr 1745 from The Desert Route to India by Douglas Carruthers from Sylvia Volk’s Page of Asia, now archived

“Account of a Journey from Basra to Aleppo in 1748” by Gaylard Roberts from The Desert Route to India by Douglas Carruthers from Sylvia Volk’s Page of Asia, now archived

Sample pages from The Desert Route to India edited by Douglas Carruthers 1929. Google Books

• "A Journal from Aleppo, over the Desert to Basserah, October 21, 1771" by Mr Carmichael, the appendix to A voyage to the East Indies: Volume 1 by John Henry Grose 1772. Google Books. Mr Carmichael had been dismissed from the East India Company and was refused a passage to India on board any of the Company's ships. This book commences with a description of a sea voyage to Bombay in 1750
• ‪Observations on the Passage to India, Through Egypt: Also by Vienna Through Constantinople to Aleppo, and from Thence by Bagdad and Directly Across the Great Desert to Bassora : With Occasional Remarks on the Adjacent Countries, an Account of the Different Stages, and Sketches of the Several Routes on Four Copper Plates‬ by James Capper. Third edition with Alterations and Additions 1785 Google Books
• Journal of a route across India, through Egypt, to England, in the latter end of the year 1817, and the beginning of 1818 by George Augustus Frederick Fitzclarence (1st Earl of Munster) 1819 Google Books.
• The Short Cut to India, the record of a journey along the route of the Baghdad Railway by David Fraser 1909 Archive.org