Explore Yellowstone at Weaver Library

In the summer of 1883, Belgian travel writer Jules Leclercq spent 10 days on horseback in Yellowstone Park, the world’s first national park. And then he wrote a book about it: Yellowstone, Land of Wonders: Promenade in North America’s National Park.

It’s a book that was never translated until now. Leclercq wrote about the myriad natural wonders: astonishing geysers, majestic waterfalls, the vast lake, and the breathtaking canyon.

Along with his observations on the park’s long-rumored fountains of boiling water and mountains of glass, Leclercq describes camping near geysers, washing clothes in a bubbling hot spring, and meeting such diverse characters as local guides and tourists from the United States and Europe.

Notables. including former president Ulysses S. Grant and then-president Chester A. Arthur, were also in the park that summer.

Want to learn much more?

Weaver Library, 41, Grove Ave., will host translators Janet Chapple and Suzanne Cane on Sunday, May 19, at 1:30 pm.

“They have created an exciting program to discuss the book and show slides of its beautiful nineteenth century engravings as well as images of Yellowstone today,” according to the Weaver Library website.

If you are thinking about travel to a National Park this summer, this program can offer a tremendous amount of insight.

The book will be available for purchase and signing from Books on the Square. The program is free and open to anyone.