An exciting and unusual book first published in 1632, Rare Adventures and Painful Peregrinations has been a much-ignored masterpiece of global literature, though it is one of the world's great travel tales. Beginning his travels in the Orkney and Shetland Islands of Scotland, Lithgow soon went off to explore the Netherlands, Germany, Bohemia, France, and Italy. He then traveled throughout Greece, Egypt, and Malta before having a spin through Western Europe again and finally returning to Great Britain. Most notably, Lithgow survived torture by the Inquisition in Spain and later traveled throughout his native Scotland. AUTHOR BIO: One of the earliest world explorers and great men of literature, William Lithgow (1582-1645) completed his major work, The Total Discourse of the Rare Adventures and Painful Peregrinations of Long Nineteen Years Travayles in 1632. It was reprinted in 1906.