author
John Hughes
1790–1857
An English author, scholar, and artist with a lively curiosity about language, travel, and history. Best remembered for his travel writing on Provence and the Rhône, he also worked as an editor and was known for his skill as a draughtsman and wood-carver.
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About the author
Born on January 2, 1790, John Hughes was an English author whose interests ranged well beyond literature. Sources describe him as a scholar and linguist as well as an amateur artist, and he studied at Oxford before building a varied intellectual life.
His best-known book is An Itinerary of Provence and the Rhone, published in 1822 and illustrated with his own etchings. He also edited The Boscobel Tracts, showing his interest in older historical writing and documents.
Hughes died on December 13, 1857. Although he is not widely read today, the record that survives suggests a thoughtful nineteenth-century writer whose books joined travel, learning, and visual art.