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24 Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 6 2o20 (Travel) Sandra Vlasta | Enlightening report versus enlightened traveller that characterizes the genre in general (Maurer 2015; Thompson 2011) and travel writing around 1800 in particular (Turner 2018). In line with what Stephen Best and Sharon Marcus have called ‘surface reading’ (2009), I will focus on the material properties of the travelogue, concentrating on the visual aspects of Forster’s and Moritz’s texts. At the same time, I will provide a close reading of selected passages, with special attention to the relation between the visual and the textual elements of the texts in question. I thus aim to emphasize an aspect of the travelogues’ paratexts that has not yet received much attention but that, I argue, forms part of Forster’s and Moritz’s enlightening/enlightened projects. II Georg Forster’s enlightening travelogue Reise um die Welt (German 1778–80; A Voyage Round the World, 1777) Readers of the first version of Georg Forster’s A Voyage Around the World in His Britannic Majesty’s Sloop Resolution, Commanded by Capt. James Cook, During the Years 1772, 3, 4, and 5, written in English and published in 1777, may be surprised to see it being discussed in an article on images in travel writing. In fact, apart from a fold-out map — designed by Georg Forster himself, added to the front matter of the volume, and entitled ‘A Chart of the Southern Hemisphere’, showing the main regions of Captain Cook’s journey (which Georg Forster and his father Johann Reinhold Forster joined) — the travelogue is devoid of pictures. Only in the German version, translated by Forster himself, do we find more paratext in the form of images. Apart from the same (translated) fold-out map (here entitled ‘Charte von der südlichen Halb- kugel’), the travelogue contains twelve copper engravings based on drawings by Georg Forster. These engravings are detailed drawings of plants, everyday objects, musical instruments, and weapons. In addition, certain pages feature the notes of songs sung by inhabitants of the Society Islands (Forster 1778–80, vol. 1: 323) and New Zealand (Forster 1778–80, vol. 2: 375), which can also be found in the English version (Forster 1777, vol. 1: 429; vol. 2: 477). The differences between the English and the German versions of the travelogue stem from the complicated story of the publication rights to the report. That the Forsters accompanied Cook on his expedition at all was largely accidental:3 Lord Daines Barrington, then vice presi- dent of the Royal Society, had suggested that they join the expedition only two weeks before the Resolution set sail. Originally, Sir Joseph Banks and his assistant and designer, Daniel Solander, were meant to accompany Captain Cook. Banks, then a famous English naturalist who had accompanied Cook on his first voyage, requested that the ship undergo major con- versions, to which Cook objected. In the end, these changes rendered the ship unnavigable and were reversed. As a consequence, the Admiralty decided against Sir Joseph Banks and had little time to find suitable natural scientists for the voyage. It was then that Barrington recommen- ded Johann Reinhold Forster and his son. The former was already a well-known member of the Royal Society (the Forsters had settled in England in 1766) and, through his publications, had proven himself to be a valuable researcher. His son, Georg, had made a name for him- self with his English translation of Mikhail Lomonosov’s Chronological Abridgement of the Russian History and his zoological sketches. In fact, he was mainly hired for the latter talent and was tasked with sketching the fauna and flora they would encounter during the voyage. 3 For more information on the history of the expedition, see for instance Vorpahl (2007) and Steiner (1983).