Jump to content

Guide book

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected fromTravel guide)
"Travel guide" redirects here. For a person who provides guided tours, seeTour guide.For the Australian TV series, seeTravel Guides (TV series).
A guide book to the 1915Panama–California Exposition
An assortment of guide books inJapan

Aguide bookortravel guideis "a book of information about a place designed for the use of visitors or tourists".[1]It will usually include information about sights, accommodation, restaurants, transportation, and activities. Maps of varying detail and historical and cultural information are often included. Different kinds of guide books exist, focusing on different aspects of travel, fromadventure travelto relaxation, or aimed at travelers with different incomes, or focusing on sexual orientation or types of diet.

Travelguidesorguidebookcan also take the form oftravel websites.

History[edit]

A Japanese tourist consulting a tour guide and a guide book from Akizato Ritō'sMiyako meisho zue(1787)

Antiquity[edit]

A forerunner of the guidebook was theperiplus,an itinerary from landmark to landmark of the ports along a coast. Aperiplussuch as thePeriplus of the Erythraean Seawas a manuscript document that listed, in order, the ports and coastal landmarks, with approximate intervening distances, that the captain of a vessel could expect to find along a shore. This work was possibly written in the middle of the 1st century CE.[2]It served the same purpose as the later Romanitinerariumof road stops.

Theperiegesis,or "progress around" was an establishedliterarygenre during the Hellenistic age. A lost work by Agaclytus describingOlympia(περὶ Ὀλυμπίας) is referred to by theSudaandPhotius.[3][4]Dionysius Periegetes(literally, Dionysius the Traveller) was the author of a description of the habitable world inGreekhexameterverse written in a terse and elegant style, intended for theklismostraveller rather than the actual tourist on the ground; he is believed to have worked inAlexandriaand to have flourished around the time ofHadrian.An early "remarkably well-informed and interesting guidebook" was theHellados Periegesis(Descriptions of Greece) ofPausaniasof the 2nd century A.D.[5]This most famous work is a guide to the interesting places, works of architecture, sculpture, and curious customs ofAncient Greece,and is still useful to Classicists today. With the advent of Christianity, the guide for theEuropeanreligiouspilgrimbecame a useful guidebook. An early account is that of the pilgrimEgeria,who visited the Holy Land in the 4th century CE and left a detailed itinerary.

In themedieval Arab world,guide books for travelers in search ofartifactsand treasures were written by Arabic treasure hunters, magicians, andalchemists.This was particularly the case inArab Egypt,where treasure hunters were eager to find valuableancient Egyptianantiquities. Some of the books claimed to be imbued with magic that could dispel the magical barriers believed to be protecting the artifacts.[6]

Travelogues[edit]

Travel literature became popular during theSong Dynasty(960–1279) of medievalChina.The genre was called 'travel record literature' (youji wenxue), and was often written innarrative,prose,essayanddiarystyle. Travel literature authors such asFan Chengda(1126–1193) andXu Xiake(1587–1641) incorporated a wealth ofgeographicalandtopographicalinformation into their writing, while the 'daytrip essay'Record of Stone Bell Mountainby the noted poet and statesmanSu Shi(1037–1101) presented a philosophical and moral argument as its central purpose.[7]

In the West, the guidebook developed from the published personal experiences of aristocrats who traveled through Europe on theGrand Tour.As the appreciation of art, architecture and antiquity became ever-more essential ingredients of the noble upbringing so they predominated in the guidebooks, particularly those devoted to the Italian peninsula.Richard Lassels(1603–1668) wrote a series of manuscript guides which were eventually published posthumously in Paris and London (1670) asThe Voyage of Italy.[8]Grand Tour guidebooks poured off the presses throughout the eighteenth century, those such asPatrick Brydone'sA Tour Through Sicily and Maltabeing read by many who never left England.[9]

Between 1626 and 1649, the Dutch publisher,Officina Elzeviriana (House of Elzevir),published a bestselling pocketbook series, theRespublicae Elzevirianae(Elzevirian Republics), which has been described as the "ancestor of the modern travel guide".[10]Each volume gave information (geography, population, economy, history) on a country in Europe, Africa, the Near East or the Far East.[11]

An important transitional figure from the idiosyncratic style of the Grand Tour travelogues to the more informative and impersonal guidebook wasMariana Starke.Her 1824 guide to travel in France and Italy served as an essential companion for British travelers to the Continent in the early 19th century. She recognized that with the growing numbers of Britons traveling abroad after 1815 the majority of her readers would now be in family groups and on a budget. She therefore included for the first time a wealth of advice on luggage, obtaining passports, the precise cost of food and accommodation in each city and even advice on the care of invalid family members. She also devised a system of exclamation mark ratings [!!!], a forerunner of today'sstar ratings.Her books, published byJohn Murray,served as a template for later guides.

In theUnited States,the first published guidebook was Gideon Minor Davison'sThe Fashionable Tour,published in 1822, and Theodore Dwight'sThe Northern Travellerand Henry Gilpin'sThe Northern Tour,both from 1825.[12]

Modern guidebook[edit]

John Murray

The modern guidebook emerged in the 1830s, with the burgeoning market for long distance tourism. The publisherJohn Murraybegan printing theMurray's Handbooks for Travellersin London from 1836.[13]The series covered tourist destinations in Europe, Asia and northern Africa, and he introduced the concept of "sights" which he rated in terms of their significance using stars for Starke's exclamation points. According to scholar James Buzard, the Murray style "exemplified the exhaustive rational planning that was as much an ideal of the emerging tourist industry as it was of British commercial and industrial organization generally."[14]

Karl Baedeker

In Germany,Karl Baedekeracquired the publishing house of Franz Friedrich Röhling in Koblenz, which in 1828 had published a handbook for travellers by Professor Johannes August Klein entitledRheinreise von Mainz bis Cöln; ein Handbuch für Schnellreisende(A Rhine Journey fromMainztoCologne;A Handbook for Travellers on the Move). He published this book with little changes for the next ten years, which provided the seeds for Baedeker's new approach to travel guides. After Klein died, he decided to publish a new edition in 1839, to which he added many of his own ideas on what he thought a travel guide should offer the traveller. Baedeker's ultimate aim was to free the traveller from having to look for information anywhere outside the travel guide; whether about routes, transport, accommodation, restaurants, tipping, sights, walks or prices. Baedeker emulated the style ofJohn Murray'sguidebooks,[15]but included unprecedented detailed information.

In 1846, Baedeker introduced his star ratings for sights, attractions and lodgings, following Mrs. Starke's and Murray's. This edition was also his first "experimental" red guide. He also decided to call his travel guides "handbooks", following the example ofJohn Murray III.Baedeker's early guides had tan covers, but from 1856 onwards, Murray's red bindings and gilt lettering became the familiar hallmark of all Baedeker guides as well, and the content became famous for its clarity, detail and accuracy.[16]

Cover ofHandbook for Travellers in Turkey,1871

Baedeker and Murray produced impersonal, objective guides; works prior to this combined factual information and personal sentimental reflection.[16]The availability of the books by Baedeker and Murray helped sharpen and formalize the complementary genre of the personaltravelogue,which was freed from the burden of serving as a guide book.[16]The Baedeker and Murray guide books were hugely popular and were standard resources for travelers well into the 20th century. AsWilliam Wetmore Storysaid in the 1860s, "Every Englishman abroad carries a Murray for information, and aByronfor sentiment, and finds out by them what he is to know and feel by every step. "

After Karl Baedeker died, his son, also named Karl, inherited the Baedeker travel guide business; however, he was killed in action during World War I. British nationalism and anti-German sentiment resulted in some British people labeling Baedeker guides "instrumental to the German war effort", and their popularity in the United Kingdom dropped considerably.[17]As a result, the two editors of Baedeker's English-language titles left the company and acquired the rights toMurray's Handbooks.The resulting guide books, called theBlue Guidesto distinguish them from the red-covered Baedekers, constituted one of the major guide book series for much of the 20th century and are still published today.

Post-WW2[edit]

Soon afterWorld War II,two new names emerged which combined European and American perspectives on international travel.Eugene Fodor,a Hungarian-bornauthor of travel articles,who had emigrated to the United States before the war, wrote guidebooks which introduced English-reading audiences to continental Europe.Arthur Frommer,an American soldier stationed in Europe during theKorean War,used his experience traveling around the Continent as the basis forEurope on $5 a Day(1957), which introduced readers to options for budget travel in Europe. Both authors' guidebooks became the foundations for extensive series, eventually covering destinations around the world.

Since then,Let's Go,Lonely Planet,Insight Guides,Rough Guides,Eyewitness Travel Guidesand many other travel guide series have been published.

For specific activities[edit]

Specialistclimbing guidebooksfor mountains have a long history owing to the special needs ofmountaineering,rock climbing,hill walking,andscrambling.The guides byW A Poucherfor example, are widely used for the hill regions ofBritain.There are many more special guides to the numerous climbing grounds in Britain published by theClimbers Club,for example.

Travel guides are made for diving destinations and specificdive sites.These have been published as magazine articles, stand-alone books and websites, often publicising the dive sites in the vicinity of specific service providers.

Digital world[edit]

With the emergence of digital technology, many publishers turned to electronic distribution, either in addition to or instead of print publication. This can take the form of downloadable documents for reading on a portable computer or hand held device such aPDAoriPod,or online information accessible via a web site. This enabled guidebook publishers to keep their information more current. Traditional guide book incumbentsLonely Planet,Frommers,Rough Guides,andIn Your Pocket City Guides,and newcomers such asSchmap[18]orUlysses[19]Travel Guides are now offering travel guides fordownload.New online and interactive guides such asTripadvisor,Wikivoyage,andTravellerspointenable individual travelers to share their own experiences and contribute information to the guide. Wikivoyage, CityLeaves, and Travellerspoint make the entire contents of their guides updatable by users, and make the information in their guides available asopen content,free for others to use.

Guide book publishers[edit]

This list is a select sample of the full range ofEnglish languageguide book publishers - either contemporary or historical.

See also[edit]

Look upguide bookin Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References[edit]

  1. ^New Oxford American Dictionary
  2. ^Kish, George (1978).A Source Book in Geography.Cambridge: Harvard University Press. p.21.ISBN0-674-82270-6.
  3. ^Suda,s.v.Κυψελιδῶν
  4. ^Smith, William(1870). Smith, William (ed.). "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology".1.Boston:Agaclytus: 57.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help)
  5. ^J. A. Cuddon,The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory.London: Penguin Books, 1999, p. 369.
  6. ^El Daly, Okasha (2004).Egyptology: The Missing Millennium: Ancient Egypt in Medieval Arabic Writings.Routledge.p. 36.ISBN1844720632.
  7. ^Hargett, James M. (1985). "Some Preliminary Remarks on the Travel Records of the Song Dynasty (960–1279)".Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews.7(1/2): 67–93.doi:10.2307/495194.JSTOR495194.
  8. ^Edward Chaney,The Grand Tour and the Great Rebellion(Geneva-Turin, 1985)
  9. ^E. Chaney,The Evolution of the Grand Tour,revised ed. (Routledge, 2000)
  10. ^Lyons, Martyn (2011).Books: A Living History.Getty Publications. p. 80.ISBN9781606060834.
  11. ^Republics (or: Elzevirian Republics) (Elzevir) – Book Series List,publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  12. ^Richard Gassan, "The First American Tourist Guidebooks: Authorship and Print Culture of the 1820s,"Book History8 (2005), pp. 51–74.
  13. ^Rudy Koshar (July 1998). "'What Ought to Be Seen': Tourists' Guidebooks and National Identities in Modern Germany and Europe ".Journal of Contemporary History.33.
  14. ^James Buzard (Autumn 1991). "The Uses of Romanticism: Byron and the Victorian Continental Tour".Victorian Studies.35.
  15. ^Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911)."Baedeker, Karl".Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  16. ^abcJames Buzzard. "The Grand Tour and after (1660–1840)" inThe Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing(2002), pp. 48–50.
  17. ^Larabee, M. D. (2010). Baedekers as Casualty: Great War Nationalism and the Fate of Travel Writing. Journal of the History of Ideas, 71(3), 457–480.
  18. ^"Cultural Travel Guides".Schmap.30 September 2011.RetrievedAugust 4,2021.
  19. ^"Ulysses Travel Guides".Ulysses.RetrievedAugust 4,2021.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Guide_book&oldid=1226115538"