The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque published!

We are delighted to announce the publication of The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Critical Edition for Readers of Jane Austen. Congratulations to the editorial team of Dr. Ben Wiebracht and Stanford OHS students Madeline Ayer, Aidan Bekendam, Jacob Bryant, Ferris Haukom, Mayuko Karakawa, Edithe Lam, Sabine Mazzeo, Rathan Muruganantham, Isabella Romagnoli, Annika Ross, April Wen, Silas Wesner, Noelle Wu, Ethan Yun, Nicolás Zepeda, and Jiayun Zhang.

Written by William Combe and illustrated by the great caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson, The Tour of Doctor Syntax tells the story of a hard-up clergyman who sets off on a tour of England, determined to make his fortune as a travel writer. First published from 1809-11, The Tour was nothing short of a sensation–by some measures, the Regency’s most popular poem (move over, Lord Byron!). The adventures and misadventures of its long-chinned and quixotic hero delighted readers the country over and launched more than a decade of Syntax-mania in the form of spinoffs, sequels, merchandise, and theatrical adaptations.

This edition of The Tour, the first in over a hundred years, forms the second volume in the Forgotten Contemporaries of Jane Austen series. Austen herself read this comic poem, and may well have had a special appreciation for it. Many of the central themes of this forgotten bestseller, from the plight of poor clergy to the aesthetic theory known as the picturesque, were ones she was exploring in her own work. The editors of this volume capture these parallels and intersections in their annotations and other critical resources. This book, then, not only puts a comic classic back on the map, but also opens a new portal into the culture that shaped the era’s greatest novelist.

“This delightful new version of a classic Jane Austen enjoyed illuminates her world and her novels.” Brenda S. Cox, Jane Austen’s World

“Now, thanks to this beautifully edited and lavishly annotated and illustrated reader’s edition produced by Ben Wiebracht and his students at Stanford Online High School, everyone may enjoy Doctor Syntax. […] Wiebracht and his fellow editors carefully gloss now-obscure references with two sets of in-text notes to help readers pick up the Georgian jokes: One set elucidates Combe’s text, while the other illuminates specific connections to Austen and her works. Helpful biographies, maps, and chronologies also guide any reader unfamiliar with the contexts. The result is a delightfully readable text.” Elaine Bander, JASNA News