Castles and Châteaux of Old Touraine

and the Loire Country

WORKS OF

FRANCIS MILTOUN

 

 

The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, profusely illustrated, $2.50

Rambles on the Riviera
Rambles in Normandy
Rambles in Brittany
The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine
The Cathedrals of Northern France
The Cathedrals of Southern France
The Cathedrals of Italy (In preparation)

The following, 1 vol., square octavo, cloth, gilt top, profusely illustrated. $3.00

Castles and Châteaux of Old Touraine and the Loire Country

L. C. PAGE & COMPANY

New England Building, Boston, Mass.

Castles and Châteaux

OF

OLD TOURAINE

AND THE LOIRE COUNTRY

By Francis Miltoun

Author of "Rambles in Normandy," "Rambles in Brittany," "Rambles on the Riviera," etc.

With Many Illustrations

Reproduced from paintings made on the spot

By Blanche McManus

L. C. PAGE & COMPANY

By Way of Introduction

This book is not the result of ordinary conventional rambles, of sightseeing by day, and flying by night, but rather of leisurely wanderings, for a somewhat extended period, along the banks of the Loire and its tributaries and through the countryside dotted with those splendid monuments of Renaissance architecture which have perhaps a more appealing interest for strangers than any other similar edifices wherever found.

Before this book was projected, the conventional tour of the château country had been "done," Baedeker, Joanne and James's "Little Tour" in hand. On another occasion Angers, with its almost inconceivably real castellated fortress, and Nantes, with its memories of the "Edict" and "La Duchesse Anne," had been tasted and digested en route to a certain little artist's village in Brittany.

On another occasion, when we were headed due south, we lingered for a time in the upper valley, between "the little Italian city of Nevers" and "the most picturesque spot in the world"—Le Puy.

But all this left certain ground to be covered, and certain gaps to be filled, though the author's note-books were numerous and full to overflowing with much comment, and the artist's portfolio was already bulging with its contents.

So more note-books were bought, and, following the genial Mark Twain's advice, another fountain pen and more crayons and sketch-books, and the author and artist set out in the beginning of a warm September to fill those gaps and to reduce, if possible, that series of rambles along the now flat and now rolling banks of the broad blue Loire to something like consecutiveness and uniformity; with what result the reader may judge.

Contents