Through his articles in several periodicals, Xavier Marmier contributed to the discovery of Nordic authors in France. He is also the first to offer a global literary history of the countries of the North in French. Since his mission during his travels in the Nordic areas did not focus primarily on literature, he engaged into it incidentally, when his occupations allowed him to. His literary history thus follows his travel impressions: he describes books and authors at the same time as the nature and landscapes that he discovers. Moreover, his meetings with authors often take more space than the analysis of their works. If the image of "literary tourist" associated with Marmier reflects the lack of rigour of his writings well, it is nevertheless important to dwell on his literary history, in order to study what works he presents and what type of literary history he proposes, and to discover how Nordic literature was introduced to a wider public at this pivotal period between the pioneering and little diffused work of specialists and the democratization of travels in northern Europe towards the end of the 19th century.