Page - 32 - in >mcs_lab> - Mobile Culture Studies, Volume 2/2020

32 Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 6 2o20 (Travel)Sandra Vlasta | Enlightening report versus enlightened traveller Readers of the first edition are prepa- red for the text’s idiosyncrasies by one of the most obvious parts of the paratext, namely the cover image, i.e. the rather obscure image of the cave (see Image 4). The raw and bleak rock and the tiny, easily overlooked figure of the wanderer at the cave’s entrance seem to be an illustration of Immanuel Kant’s notion of the dynamically sublime (Kant 1790: § 28): the image depicts a natural object that evokes a kind of intimidating amazement through sheer immensity. The small human figure — most likely a wanderer, given the hiking stick in his hands — looks towards the cave’s entrance, feeling, we can imagine, amazement and terror in the face of the enor- mous cavern (in fact the largest in the UK). Like the subsequently added frontispiece, the cover image was based on Moritz’s text and was produced especially for the volume by the Berlin illustrator and etcher Johann Wilhelm Meil (Moritz 2015: 285). The unusual image is a very clear statement on Moritz’s travelogue: unlike other German texts on journeys to England of the time, Moritz’s aims to describe places that former travellers have not visited, the gigantic cave being a vivid example of this. This does not mean that Moritz did not visit and describe more canonical places as well, however. In fact, the greater part of his travelogue is dedicated to London, describing many sights and discussing topics with which his readers would have been familiar from the numerous reports of travels to England which had resulted from the strong spirit of Anglophilia that swept through eighteenth-century Germany (Martin 2008; Maurer 2010). Descriptions of the country’s book industry, its school systems, fashion, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, and Vauxhall Gardens of the sort found in Moritz’s travelogue, for instance, can likewise be found in other German travelogues on England from this period (see Maurer 1992). Still, the strategic focus of Moritz’s travelogue is different, namely unusual sights and their impressions on the traveller. The uncommon cover image is a manifest expression of this. Moritz presents himself as an insider, and thus as a cultural mediator for his readers: it is made clear from the beginning of the travelogue that he can speak English and that he is fami- liar with English literature and culture, which he studied in depth. Hence, once in England, he strives to visit places such as the English Parliament and describes what he sees there in detail (Moritz 2000: 38–49). He is interested in individual English politicians and how they talk and present themselves (Moritz 2000: 41–44). Similarly, he shows great interest in the English language and provides detailed accounts of how things are said and pronounced (Moritz 2000: 170–172). In this way, he passes on to his readers the inside knowledge he has gained. His familiarity with English literature in particular is further underscored by the fact that Image 4: Cover image of the first edition (Berlin 1783) of Moritz’s Reisen eines Deutschen in England im Jahr     .