The Traveller
1838
At sea
:
1838
7869135
1838
periodical
In a letter, accompanying the contribution of a short story 'Typhon', sent to the editor of the Commercial Journal and Advertiser, the author relates that on the voyage out to Australia in an effort to while away monotony and to amuse fellow passengers, 'three or four of us ... started a 'weekly paper' in manuscript 'which we kept up till we arrived at our destined port.'
'Typhon', the first work seemingly contributed to the Commercial Journal, was 'one of a series extracted' from the weekly paper. 'Many of the articles caused great amusement' writes the author and having observed that the Commercial Journal 'generally reserve some portion of your columns for humourous or amusing literature,... [the author] thought the accompanying genuine production ['Typhon'] might perhaps prove acceptable.' The author offers other works if 'upon your perusal you deem it worthy [of] notice'.
The author seems to have contributed 'Typhon' and other pieces under the series title 'Papers from My Portfolio'.
The piece 'A Literary Controversy at Sea', published in the 26 December 1838 issue of the Commercial Journal, reveals that the shipboard paper was called 'The Traveller'.
AustLit has not yet established the existence of the paper.
