Travel in the Leisure Hour

This chapter investigates the presentation of travel in the Leisure Hour (1852–1905), a long-lived and influential illustrated family magazine. It treated travel extensively in the context of many other themes and had a comprehensive address. Claiming to be dedicated to readers of “all classes”, the Leisure Hour published articles on expensive travel and tourism as well as excursions that were affordable to people of the lower-middle and artisan classes. These minor forms of travel were typically presented in the short form of single articles and often provided hands-on information on how to travel. In terms of age, the Leisure Hour presented travel mainly as an activity of young and midlife adulthood. In terms of gender, its representation of female travel oscillated between conservative and liberal attitudes.