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For more information see item level records. Note that volume numbers 5 and 21 are not in this collection.

This collection contains 18 manuscript volumes of Thomas Pennant's largely 'imaginary' global tours, along with 3 actual tours of Northern and Southern England. There are also two extra volumes: P/16/24, an extra-illustrated volume from the second edition of Pennant's Arctic Zoology (1792), and P/16/25, a collection of material either related to Pennant and the 'Outlines', or extracted from the other volumes.

Thomas Pennant (1726–1798) of Downing, Flintshire was a leading eighteenth-century naturalist and travel writer: his notable works of natural history include British Zoology (1766) and Synopsis of Quadrupeds (1771), whilst his published tours of Scotland and Wales have been credited with establishing the 'domestic tour' as a fashionable genre.

The 'Outlines of the Globe' was Pennant's final major work. An early conceptualisation of the project is laid out in a letter of 4 March 1786 from Pennant to Richard Bull: see Curious Travellers Editions [https://editions.curioustravellers.ac.uk/], Item ID 1053. Pennant's Literary Life (1793), p. 41, suggests composition of the non-'Northern' tours began in 1788. The end of a supposedly final volume is dated 29th January 1793, though some additions and insertions clearly post-date this period (see in particular Vol. 23).

The extant 'Outlines' collection consists of a northern tour (Vol. 1–4) from England to Kamchatka, a coastal tour around France, Spain, and Africa, then eastwards as far as Japan, 'New Guinea', and Australia (Vol. 6–19), and three volumes of British tours (Vol. 20–23). With the exception of the tour in northern England (P/16/22), itineraries generally follow the sea coasts, with some excursions inland (often following major rivers like the Loire or the Tigris).

In his Literary Life (1793), Pennant wrote that he 'grew fond of imaginary tours' in old age, and compiled these volumes from accounts in 'books ancient and modern', and from 'living travellers of the most respectable characters' – though some of the material is based on places Pennant visited himself, in particular the British tours. The volumes are lavishly illustrated with inserted prints, charts, and maps, and decorated with original artwork by (amongst others) Pennant's longtime artist Moses Griffith (1747–1819).

Versions of volumes 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 10, 22, and 23 were published between 1798 and 1801, many of them posthumously and under the direction of Pennant's son David. This included four volumes published under the general title 'Outlines of the Globe' (1798–1800), with the domestic British tours of northern England and the south coast emerging without that overarching title.

This catalogue, whilst not comprehensive, aims to give an overview of each volume's 'imaginary' tour itinerary, note likely dates of composition, and highlight any material identifiably drawn from otherwise unpublished sources.