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The latest addition to our translations of Théophile Gautier's travel writings is 'A Day in London' ('Une Journée à Londres'), which is now available for browsing and download here.

Gautier made the first of a number of visits to London, in March 1842, in order to assist in staging the ballet Giselle, the libretto of which he had written in collaboration with Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges. In the first performance, on March 12th at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Carlotta Grisi danced the title role, which had brought her instant fame in Paris the previous summer. Gautier gives here his initial impressions of the city, written as a report to his friend Fritz, his nickname for Gérard de Nerval, and published in the collection Zigzags, in 1845.