With Thackeray in America

The British painter Eyre Crowe chronicled, through words and pictures, his six-month American tour with William Makepeace Thackeray. Crowe accompanied Thackeray in the unfamiliar role of his secretary during the latter's lecture tour round the United States in 1852–3, and his illustrated account was published in 1893 – thirty years after the writer's death – under the title, With Thackeray In America. Crowe relates that the renowned humourist asked him to accompany him for the simple reason that 'Six months tumbling about the world will do you no harm.' A lasting and memorable partnership was formed, and the details of the adventure were preserved in Crowe's amusing running commentary as well as in his art.