A new edition of Voyage and Discovery by Conor O’Brien, illustrated by Katharine Clausen and edited by Martin Davies. Originally published by William Blackwood & Sons Ltd. in 1933 and then more or less forgotten for ninety years, this unique travel memoir, the first book about Ibiza to appear in English, describes the island in 1932. Additional texts include the author’s hitherto unpublished ‘The Corsairs of Iviza’, a preface, footnotes, glossary, and an index. It is accompanied by 60 illustrations, 11 full-page. Spanish edition Viaje y descubrimiento translated by Eva María Ríos Castillo. Launched in Sa Nostra Sala, Ibiza Town, 20th December 2023.

Barbary Press (Martin Davies), c/. Murcia 10, 5º 1ª, 07800 Ibiza, Spain. Tel. +34 609 875 689

Barbary Press publications 2000–2023: all titles have been published in English and Spanish, and some in Catalan, German and French too.

Out of print: 1. Eivissa-Ibiza: A Hundred Years of Light and Shade (2000, 2nd ed. 2007), 2. Eivissa-Ibiza: Island Out of Time (2005), 3. Birds of Ibiza (2006, 2nd 2013), 4. The Road to San Vicente* (2007, 2nd ed. 2010), 5. A Valley Wide (2008), 6. Ibiza and Formentera’s Heritage: A Non-Clubber’s Guide (2nd 2014, 3rd ed. forthcoming),

Currently available: 7. Ibiza’s First Hotels, 1933–1958 (desk calendar, 2010), 8. The Adventures of Pepita (2012), 9. Pine Tree Island: A Novel From Ibiza’s Dawn (2021). 10. Voyage and Discovery (2023)

Forthcoming: Ibiza and Formentera’s Heritage: A Non-Clubber’s Guide* (3rd ed. 2024); The Road to San Vicente (2nd edition, 2024/5) and Le chemin a San Vicente (first French edition, 2024/5).

234 pp., 13x20 cm, 60 illustrations.

Illustrations by Katharine Clausen (with captions added by the artist).

Editor’s preface: There is something about Conor O’Brien’s remarkable fourth book which evokes The Odyssey itself, that thrilling saga of middle-aged mariners exploring strange new lands. When the Irishman entered Ibizan waters at the beginning of 1932, the White Island was still terra incognita to most of his imagined audience, and the delight he took in his exotic find carries effortlessly across the years. “Mr O Brien,” we read on the original dust jacket, “is well known among yachtsmen as the owner of the Saoirse, in which he sailed round the world. In this excellent chronicle he tells of her discovery of the Balearic Islands.” Iviza (as it was for English readers) floats mysteriously above the author’s name on the cover, while the title is crowned by a swashbuckling brigantine under full sail. Like the sixty-odd illustrations inside, this handsome chart was evidently drawn by O’Brien’s accomplished wife, the artist Katharine Clausen.

Conor O’Brien (1880–1952): One of Ireland’s most remarkable sailors and author of fourteen books. The first, Across Three Oceans (1926), describes a record-breaking circumnavigation (1923–25) in Saoirse, a ketch built to his own design and later converted into a schooner. In 1931–2 he sailed to Ibiza with his wife, the artist Katherine Clausen (1886–1936), and most of 1932 was spent exploring the island and working on Voyage and Discovery (1933). Nearly all O’Brien’s yachting handbooks remain in print, and many of his technical innovations have become standard features. Renewed interest in his wide-ranging achievements is borne out by Judith Hill’s handsomely illustrated In Search of Islands: A Life of Conor O’Brien (2009), as well as reconstructions in West Cork of both Ilen (2015–2017) and Saoirse (2018–22).

Katharine Clausen (1886–1936) was born in Berkshire to the prominent painter of English rural life Sir George Clausen, and grew up in the Home Counties. She studied at St John’s Wood Art School and the Royal Academy (1908–13), winning prizes such as the prestigious Landseer Scholarship. Her first illustrated books were for children, Gulliver à Lilliput (1912) and Mabel Bryce’s Nancy in the Wood (1914). During World War I (her fiancé was killed in action in 1915), she worked as a nurse, and from 1915 exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and Royal Watercolour Society. After a trip to Italy (Goupil Gallery catalogue, Amalfi & Some Other Places, 1925), light and colour became leading aspects of her work. In 1928 she married Conor O’Brien, and their delayed honeymoon aboard Saoirse (1931–2) became the subject of Voyage and Discovery (1933). Clausen’s Ibizan paintings were exhibited at London’s Beaux Arts Gallery in November 1936.

Back cover: “He reached our shores aboard his yacht Saoirse and was immediately struck by the tranquillity of the island, the benevolence of its soil, the allure of its landscapes and the charm, fast disappearing, of its unusual peasant dress. His book Voyage and Discovery (1933), with pen drawings by the author’s wife, has a favoured place on our shelves. Should God grant us sufficient years we would translate the most interesting chapters so that we Ibicencos, who have a moral debt to settle with this globetrotter, should know and cherish an inheritance whose underlying value we rarely appreciate.” (Alejandro Llobet, Diario de Ibiza, 8 April 1937)

To customers of the new edition of Conor O’Brien’s Voyage and Discovery  As a local publisher on a small Spanish island, Amazon.co.uk has been my principal outlet for foreign sales for many years. Their software, however, has recently made it almost impossible to add new titles, perhaps due to the fact that my company is based in Spain. I would be happy to provide bank and PayPal details for those interested in placing an order – please contact me first with your mailing address. Voyage and Discovery costs €17 plus €6 postage & packing (Total €23)  to UK, Ireland and elsewhere in Europe. (£14.75 + £5.25 = £20); packages usually take between one and two weeks to reach Ireland/UK. This edition is also available in Spanish (Viaje y descubrimiento) for the same price. If you wish to order more than one copy or are based outside Europe, I will be happy to provide postage rates.

Martin Davies

martindavies@ibizahistoryculture.com