The Romany Rye: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Romany Rye, credited to George Borrow, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Romany Rye by George Borrow. Read in English by Peter Dann. "The Romany Rye" is a direct continuation of George Borrow's "Lavengro", taking up the latter's story immediately where it (rather abruptly) concluded. Borrow himself referred to both books collectively as "Lavengro", and asserted that he wrote the work for the express purpose of inculcating virtue, love of country, learning, manly pursuits, and genuine religion, for example, that of the Church of England, and for awakening a contempt for nonsense of every kind, and a hatred for priest craft, more especially that of Rome. While this may be so as far as it goes, Borrow's account of his book's purpose does little to capture the extraordinary liveliness of a work whose genre defies categorisation, but which certainly includes elements of autobiography, travelogue and (often, most amusing) invective. Those willing to come along for the ride with Borrow's narrator will meet some marvellous yarn-spinners and leg-pullers in early- to mid-nineteenth century England. Among others, you'll meet a demoralised inn-keeper whose fortunes are transformed the minutes he refuses to become a Papist, a joyous rat catcher, a dupe caught up in a bank note forgery case, a wistful beekeeper who brews strong mead, a grief-stricken widower who learns Chinese by studying pottery inscriptions but cannot tell the time, a card sharper who almost inveigled the Pope into playing a game of cards with him for money, and many other quirky individuals. You'll learn all about the depredations of coach drivers, how to sell a horse at a horse fair without being taken advantage of, the history of Hungary told by one who knows, why teaching one's beloved Armenian may not be the best way to win her heart, and much else of besides — all told in some of the most interestingly-fashioned mid-nineteenth century English prose you are ever likely to encounter. (Summary by Peter Dann)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Romany Rye
• Author credits: George Borrow
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 58
• Listed recording duration: 15:04:45

Catalogue topics

• adventure stories
• england -- fiction
• romanies -- fiction

Opening tracks: first 24 of 58

1. 01 - Chapter 1 — 8:47
2. 02 - Chapter 2 — 9:35
3. 03 - Chapter 3 — 16:55
4. 04 - Chapter 4 — 28:08
5. 05 - Chapter 5 — 9:06
6. 06 - Chapter 6 — 20:18
7. 07 - Chapter 7 — 16:55
8. 08 - Chapter 8 — 12:54
9. 09 - Chapter 9 — 13:14
10. 10 - Chapter 10 — 25:08
11. 11 - Chapter 11 — 14:12
12. 12 - Chapter 12 — 21:00
13. 13 - Chapter 13 — 5:08
14. 14 - Chapter 14 — 13:49
15. 15 - Chapter 15 — 9:02
16. 16 - Chapter 16 — 16:26
17. 17 - Chapter 17 — 17:29
18. 18 - Chapter 18 — 8:38
19. 19 - Chapter 19 — 11:50
20. 20 - Chapter 20 — 3:17
21. 21 - Chapter 21 — 18:11
22. 22 - Chapter 22 — 12:16
23. 23 - Chapter 23 — 8:35
24. 24 - Chapter 24 — 12:14

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.