The Road to Oxiana is the brilliant account of Robert Byron’s ten-month journey to Iran and Afghanistan in 1933–34. This classic travelogue is considered by many modern travel writers to be the first example of great travel writing.

In 1933, Robert Byron set off from Venice with his friend Christopher Sykes to explore the architecture of the Middle East. Their long and arduous journey took them from Cyprus and Jerusalem to Syria, Iraq, Persia and Afghanistan, and finally Oxiana, a tiny country around the river Oxus, the Greek name for the river Amu Darya, which snakes down from Russia into Afghanistan. They travel by any means necessary (truck, camel, horses and foot), and encounter several setbacks, but their risks a...

A travel writing classic ready to be rediscovered, Europe in the Looking Glass describes, with a mixture of laugh-out-loud humour and perceptive commentary on art and architecture, how three rich young Englishmen cross pre-World-War-Two Europe in an old car. Best known as the author of The Road to Oxiana, published in 1937, Robert Byron developed his considerable writing skills on a travel book which has not been in print since 1926. Europe in the Looking Glass describes a journey Byron ma...

The Road to Oxiana is a travelogue by Robert Byron, first published in 1937. It is considered by many modern travel writers to be the first example of great travel writing. The word "Oxiana" in the title refers to the region along Afghanistan's northern border.Writer Paul Fussell wrote that The Road to Oxiana is to the travel book what "Ulysses is to the novel between the wars, and what The Waste Land is to poetry."Robert Byron (1905 – 1941) was a British travel writer, best...

In 1933 Robert Byron began a journey through the Middle East via Beirut, Jerusalem, Baghdad, and Teheran to Oxiana--the country of the Oxus, the ancient name for the river Amu Darya which forms part of the border between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. The Road to Oxiana offers not only a wonderful record of his adventures, but also a rare account of the architectural treasures of a region now inaccessible to most Western travelers.

First published in 1926 by George Routledge and Sons: London, now public domain. In 1925, after being kicked out of Oxford University for “misdemeanors” and mooching aimlessly around London, Robert Byron and two friends left for the Continent. As with his famous namesake before him, this would be a Grand Tour, but one done by car. Byron’s wry and informative account languished out of print for almost a hundred years. Now it has been rescued and republished, enabling us to rediscover Byron ...

In "The Byzantine Achievement," Robert Byron presents a compelling exploration of the intricate tapestry of Byzantine civilization, melding acute historical analysis with vivid, almost poetic prose. Byron's literary style oscillates between erudite and engaging, offering readers both scholarly insights and a vivid sense of place. Contextually, the book emerges during a period of renewed interest in Byzantine studies, as scholars sought to illuminate this often-overlooked civilization's con...

First published in 1930, this book deals with Byzantine art, not as an isolated province, but as one intimately connected with the subsequent history of European painting. After a summary of the whole question in its relation to modern art, the second chapter opens with a novel analysis of the iconoclast controversy, and shows how it was only by this movement that Hellenistic naturalism was finally vanquished and the seed of interpretational art planted in Europe in its stead. The third ch...

Over the course of several months during 1931 and 1932, Robert Byron journeyed to three countries teetering on the brink of change. In Russia, which was stricken by famine, Lenin had just died, Stalin's dictatorship was in its infancy and the Great Terror had yet to begin. Having taken the first commercial flight to India, which took an astounding seven days, Byron was thrown into the tumultuous last years of the British Raj. Gandhi was imprisoned, while rioting and clashes between Hindus ...

The Station follows three high-spirited young men visiting the monasteries on Mount Athos in 1927. They examine treasures and sketch the courtyards and those who live in them. They swim ecstatically off the sparkling, deserted beaches, climb mountains, talk and share meals with monks and transcribe these conversations with relish. For life is very different for a celibate hermit on Mount Athos. Time has no meaning: the Son of God, His Virgin Mother, the Angels and the Saints are all livin...

Robert Byron's The Station is a vivid early travel narrative centered on Mount Athos, the monastic peninsula where Byzantine Christianity, art, and ritual survived with extraordinary intensity. Combining itinerary, aesthetic manifesto, and comic observation, the book moves through monasteries, landscapes, icons, libraries, and conversations with monks. Its prose is brisk, ironic, and visually exact, already displaying Byron's gift for architectural description and his challenge to the West...

First published in 1933, this text is a fascinating account of Robert Byron's travels in the Russia, India and Tibet of the time. The narrative of travels and descriptions of environment are first-rate and beautifully written. One of the great early examples of the travel-writing genre!