Med pennan i hand : Trehundra år av diplomaters berättelser

The essays collected in this volume are based on presentations and panel discussions from a symposium held in November 2021 at the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities. The symposium aimed to investigate different kinds of writings, such as reports, travelogues, letters, diaries, and memoirs by diplomats in office in different places-from Russia to Spain, from Constantinople to Algiers. The persons in question were no simple tourists: they had a mission to fulfil, and they often stayed in their designated country long enough to gain a considerable knowledge of it. At the same time, they remained outside observers, and it is no wonder that many of them felt the urge to share with their compatriots their experience of "exotic" societies and cultures. Some of the descriptions they left constitute highly valuable testimonies, covering the period from the early 17th to the early 20th centuries.