A tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain

A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain is an account of his travels by English author Daniel Defoe, first published in three volumes between 1724 and 1727. Other than Robinson Crusoe, Tour was Defoe's most popular and financially successful work during the eighteenth century. Pat Rogers notes that in Defoe’s use of the “literary vehicle (the ‘tour’ or ‘circuit’) that could straddle the literal and the imaginative,” “Nothing...anticipated Defoe’s Tour”. Thanks in part to his extensive travels and colourful background as a soldier, businessman, and spy, Defoe had “hit on the best blend of objective fact and personal commentary” in his descriptions of locations and trips around Britain.

The Tour is roughly divided into several tours, or circuits, around Britain. Volume 1 contains three letters. The first two, Through Essex, Colchester, Harwich, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire, and through Kent Coast, Maidstone, Canterbury, Sussex, Hampshire, and Surrey, are complete circuits, both beginning and ending in London. Letter 3 describes a journey out to Land's End, while Letter 4 starts Volume 2 with the journey back. Letter 5 focuses on London and the Court. Volume 2 ends with Letters 6 and 7 describing a path out to Anglesey and back. Finally, in Volume 3, the narrator begins at the Trent or the Mersey and slowly travels northwards from the Midlands, taking up Letters 8 through 10. Finally, Scotland is divided into three convenient units for Letters 11 through 13.

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