Vintage/antique travel guides

[Alon]

Among the rarities I enjoy collecting (let's face it, I'll collect whatever's old and uncommon) are old travel guides. Here is one I picked up yesterday at a street vendor's entirely by chance.

It's in French and, much to my chagrin, I don't speak the language, but I had to grab it none the less.

La France: Paris et les Provinces [1944]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3254/2704006133_e663bd3cb9.jpg

The book is filled with wonderful images caricaturing French, and particularly Parisian, life and lithographs of national and historic sites.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3292/2704007133_2771caf26e.jpg
"Dans un atelier de couture" taken from a chapter entitled "Le domaine de la Parisienne" [Oh la la!]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3057/2704835166_a2e53747cc.jpg
Traditional costume of Alsace

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3169/2704010301_0669074497.jpg
Traditional costume of Languedoc

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3084/2704836114_c132e8eec6.jpg
Lithograph of the Cathedral of Strasbourg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2190/2704009235_1b7441edde.jpg
Lithograph of the gate at Besançon

But these maps of the provinces of France are my favourite:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2704013307_dba1a1de2b.jpg
Brittany

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3072/2704008105_af4bfa692e.jpg
Normandy

The book is in excellent condition, printed on extremely high quality paper, and all I paid was $5.00.

Anybody else have interesting travel guides?

[Jedburgh OSS]

When Germany invaded France in 1940 the last Michelin guide published was 1939. The US Army borrowed it and published one with its own amendments in 1944 to be distributed among platoon leaders, etc. for D-Day. Instead of the traditional red cover used since 1900 this one had a basic brown paper bag look and over 1100 pages. It was up to a point classified info. Several years ago one went on eBay for $1503. When the bidding hit $1000 only three bidders continued. Yours truly stopped at $25 to see where this was going. And to think I just wanted it to lay in my footlocker display.

[imported_the_librarian]

Does virtual ownership count?

I've always enjoyed browsing the WPA writer's guide for each state. Not travel, but yet, travel in a sense. Check out this description from the one on California:

"...Right on this road, through two gates (please close), to a farmhouse, 3 m..."

(Source: http://www.google.com/books?id=BilViSeuA0UC)


I would love to own an original set of these......

[Miles Borocky]

Librarian, you beat me too the punch. I was just about to say that if I could, I'd love to get all the WPA travel guides. The idiosyncratic approach to different locales is brilliant. :)

[BellyTank]

I have a 1927 copy of:

"Thomas Cook's Guide to India, Burma and Ceylon"


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