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Journal of a Tour through North Wales was Aikin’s first book, published in 1797, when he was only 24 years old. It is based on a tour undertaken two years earlier, inspired by Horace Bénédict de Saussure’s Voyages dans les Alpes. Like other contemporaries who visited the region, he stopped at well-known destinations-Bala, Llanrwst, Beddgelert, Dolgellau, Anglesey, Llandudno, Abergele, and so on. However, unlike many of said contemporaries, he looked beyond the picturesque stone cottages, the constant rain, and the beautiful cataracts, and kept his sights on the soil and the mountains, intent on studying the geology, the botany, and the mineralogy of North Wales. Aikin provides vivid descriptions of the settlements he visited-their size, their economy, their inhabitants, and some of their customs-and of the plant species he encountered; but, perhaps more importantly, and in great detail, of the mines and metallurgical works in operation at the time, both in terms of their physical arrangements and their methods of production. Included in the volume is also a chapter on the wool industry of his day. These first-hand descriptions make of this work a valuable document for those interested in the region’s industrial history.
