Mary Adelaide Walker was a British traveller. Her brother was the British chaplain in Istanbul during the 1850’s. She must have arrived in Istanbul soon after the Crimean war, around 1856, and stayed in the East for approximately forty years. While in the Ottoman capital, she met Lady Hornby, known for her chronicle “Constantinople during the Crimean War” and illustrated her work.
In 1860, Walker followed her brother to Thessaloniki, as he took up a position as vicar in that city. She was thus able to make a grand tour of Northern Greece. From Istanbul, she travelled to Kavala and Philippoi via the Dardanelles. Subsequently, she sailed around Mount Athos peninsula to Thessaloniki and continued on to Pella, Edessa, Bitola (Monastir), Ohrid, Castoria and Florina. She wrote several books on her travels in modern-day European Turkey and especially Bithynia, as well as works dealing with the customs and traditions of the Ottoman empire. The lithographs of this edition were based on M.A. Walker’s drawings.
She wrote and illustrated at least two books related to Macedonia:
- “Old tracks and new landmarks, wayside sketches in Crete, Macedonia, Mythene, etc.”, published in 1896 (describing and illustrating the life in Ohrid, Bitola and Aegean Macedonia regions)
- “Through Macedonia to the Albanian Lakes”, published in 1864 also describing the south western parts of Macedonia.
A collection of original drawings of M.A. Walker, including the original illustrations from Ochrida and Castoria were sold by the auction house Christie’s London, UK in December 1992 (lot number 89).
