In the mountains
The high Alps in winter: or, Mountaineering in search of health (R2430)
Silvester Horne
Enriqueta loved the mountain air and the beautiful views of the Alps. She suffered from arthritis, but her condition improved when she was in Switzerland.
In 1890 Enriqueta arranged a holiday in Switzerland for her friend Arnold Green, who was physically disabled. Arnold was a man of great knowledge and ability – Enriqueta employed him to buy the books and manuscripts for the Library. After the holiday, he wrote “I have returned stronger, I think, than I have ever been.”
The following year Enriqueta introduced Arnold to her minister, Silvester Horne. Silvester wrote in his diary that Arthur was “a great invalid and lame, but so witty and bright and good”. The two men became firm friends.
In 1896, Enriqueta sent Arnold and Silvester on a tour of Switzerland and the Italian Lakes. Arnold had a very painful leg and Silvester had become ill from overwork. Silvester wrote: “the trip was immensely helpful to me physically, and everybody congratulates me on my improved appearance”.
"I am never tired of the mountains"
Letter from Enriqueta Rylands to William Linnell, 27 June 1894, JRL/4/1/3/1
Mrs Burnaby, later known as Elizabeth Le Blond, was a pioneering mountaineer and photographer. She was very frail when she first went to Switzerland and found that climbing mountains made her much stronger and fitter. This was one of the first books Enriqueta gave to The John Rylands Library.
This engraving from a nineteenth-century album shows a party ascending Mont Blanc.
