Travel & Exploration

The Folio Society’s three-volume set of the journals of Captain Cook from 1768–1779, published to mark the first voyage’s 250th anniversary, is accompanied by a chart of the voyages bound in cloth.

In The Writer’s Map, historian Huw Lewis-Jones presents the maps that writers create and those that inspire their writing. 

Funny, learned and frank, this book explores what life was really like in the Middle Ages. With specially commissioned illustrations by Robert Venables.

Ian Mortimer, best-selling author of the Time Traveller’s series, launches readers into the omnipresent odours and architectural wonders of Elizabethan England in our stunning new Folio Society edition.

Shortlisted in Folio’s Reader’s Choice this award-wining Himalayan travelogue is published for the first time with original expedition photographs and an exclusive introduction by Matthiessen’s son.

A landmark edition of Bird’s monumental journey down the Yangtze river in 19th-century China, featuring over 100 photographs, each carefully restored by Folio.

Published in partnership with the Royal Geographical Society, the British Library and the Scott Polar Research Institute, this Folio edition is the complete facsimile of all 12 original issues of the South Polar Times – Captain Scott’s expedition magazine.

An inspired biography of the great naturalist and explorer, by the author of the much-loved Aubrey-Maturin novels.

Filled with extraordinary observations, and occasionally hair-raising anecdotes, this is the most endearing of all Darwin's books.

The chilling story of the brutal colonisation of Australia, this epic account by Robert Hughes is a fascinating history of the youngest and yet most ancient of continents.

A maritime voyage like no other with historian and travel writer Jan Morris, in this unique illustrated edition.

A lavishly illustrated 20th anniversary edition of Guns, Germs and Steel – Jared Diamond’s Pulitzer Prize-winning exploration of how and why Eurasians developed the weapons, diseases and technologies that enabled them to dominate the rest of the world.

Eric Newby’s story of escape and evasion, dedicated to the ordinary Italian people who saved his life, remains funny, vivid and deeply moving.

A fascinating story of perilous seas and brilliant innovation, accompanied by wonderful colour photographs.

A revelatory examination of a unique oral culture, published for the first time in the UK.

One of the most opulent pictorial books ever published, Japan, produced at the end of the 19th century, captures a vanished world in 259 hand-coloured photographs. This is the first time this landmark work has been reproduced in its entirety in two luxurious volumes.

Jan Morris’s exuberant and witty love letter to the Manhattan of 1945 effortlessly evokes a time when it was ‘the most hopeful city on earth’.

Unique to Folio, this collection explores the genesis of Heart of Darkness, and features an introduction by Conrad expert J. H. Stape and contemporary photographs.

Before the modern age, only the intrepid, foolhardy or mad would undertake a voyage of exploration. Impossible Journeys tells the stories of 24 of these extraordinary journeys, from the Middle Ages to the Victorian era.

The book of Parkman's youth and one of the first great chronicles of the American West, The Oregon Trail remains the most popular of all his works.

Bill Bryson's account of his farewell tour of Britain by public transport is a hilarious and affectionate tribute by Britain's funniest adopted son.

A charming account of Stevenson's adventure in the wilds of southern France, accompanied only by his stubborn but loveable donkey.

From the civil wars in Africa to revolutions in the Middle East, if there was a major news story during the Cold War Ryszard Kapuściński was there, always with a copy of Herodotus' Histories in his luggage. In this fascinating memoir Kapuściński compares his experiences with those of Herodotus writing more than 1,500 years before him.

Blending investigative journalism with the personal approach of a writer both fascinated and appalled by her subject, this is an award-winning portrait of life under ‘one of the most savage surveillance regimes ever known’. With previously unpublished photographs by the author.

A vivid portrait of a post-Mao China, from one of the great travel writers.

A milestone in the theory of evolution and one of the greatest books of 19th-century historic travel, this lavish two-volume edition brings together a wealth of illustrative material.

One of the most successful travel books of the past 20 years, this engaging adventure is published with a new introduction by the author.

Carter's own thrilling testimony, with spectacular colour images by Sandro Vannini and the original photographs by Harry Burton.

A story of tremendous courage and endurance, related first-hand by one of its survivors.