'Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes' frontispiece

This is a frontispiece from Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes' (1879), created by Walter Crane. The novel, written by Stevenson in his twenties, details his journey through the region in South Central France -- all the while accompanied by a temperamental donkey named Modestine. Stevenson had taken the journey in the preceding year: it spanned 12 days and 120 miles. The novel inspired travellers to come after him, and the route of his journey, the GR70 footpath, is now affectionately dubbed 'The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail'.

This illustration shows Stevenson reclining in the outdoors with Modestine. Many people who he encountered showed great concern at the idea of Stevenson sleeping in the outdoors but he remained untroubled by their fretting about robbers and animal attacks, preferring to experience his adventure in its purest form. 'Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes' remains a classic of travel literature to this day.