ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the reciprocal relationship between Wordsworth's evolving popularity and changing styles of Lake District tourism in the first half of the nineteenth century, as earlier modes of travel were overtaken by the arrival of the railways. It identifies that tourists are attracted to the Lakes because of Wordsworth and his poetry, to locate the earliest references to Wordsworth in guidebooks to the district and to explore how the phenomenon of Wordsworthian tourism related to the wider history of Lake District tourism. The early references to Wordsworth suggest that his residence in the Lake District had attracted attention from the very beginning, although his wider fame can be dated after 1820 when his work began to appear more extensively in various publications, including popular guides to the Lakes. The introduction to Black's emphasizes that it is intended as a companion for touring and for subsequent recollection a notably Wordsworthian formula.
