To find guidebooks, it is easiest to search by corporate author, e.g. do an author search for "Karl Baedeker Firm". You can also find guidebooks by doing a subject search for the country and "guidebooks", e.g. "south africa guidebooks"
For contemporary guidebooks (Frommer, Fodor, Rick Steves, Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, Let's Go, Insight, Moon etc.), search by place and publisher. Note that we do not buy these comprehensively, and that many are in Marquand and do not circulate. We now have a complete set of current Lonely Planet and Rough Guides, shelved near the Dixon room. Also, try the Princeton Public Library or a bookstore.
Baedeker began publishing guidebooks in German in 1832, and the firm continues today. Guides were also published in French and in English.
For a list of all the guides, see:
Baedeker's guidebooks: a checklist of English-language editions, 1861-1939. Gretton, John R. Dereham [England]: Dereham Books, 1994.
Baedeker’s Reisehandbücher, 1832-1990: Bibliographie 1832-1944: Verzeichnis 1948-1990: Verlagsgeschichte mit Abbildungen und zusätzlichen Übersichten. Alex W. Hinrichsen. RECAP Z6011 .H48 1991
To see what Princeton University Library holds, search the Main Catalog for Author=Karl Baedeker (Firm)
There are other German-language guidebook series, most notably Meyers Reisebucher, on which see: Wegweiser durch Meyers Reisebücher, 1862-1936 : Bibliographie. Werner Hauenstein ; mit Abbildungen, Tabellen, Register und einer Einführung von Alex W. Hinrichsen. Stadtoldendorf : U. Hinrichsen, 1993. RECAP: Marquand Lib. use only: Z6011 .H36 1993s
Murray's handbooks for travellers were published from 1836 to 1901 (when the series was sold to another publisher). For a good short description of this guidebook series, see the entry "Murray Handbooks" in Literature of travel and exploration: an encyclopedia.
For a comprehensive list, see:
Provides a brief biographical information about the authors and editors of each guide. The introduction by J.R. Gretton is also quite helpful.
To see what Princeton University Library holds, search the Main Catalog for Author=John Murray (Firm). In addition, we have microfiche of the entire set:
The English-language Blue Guides were written for many decades by the brothers James & Findley Muirhead, who had previously worked for Baedeker. Their first independent guide is the guide to London published in 1918. The guides are still being published. These guides emphasize art and architecture.
For a complete list, see the Blue Guides website
To see what Princeton University Library holds, search the Main Catalog for Title=Blue Guide
The premier French-language guidebook series began in 1853 and is still publishing. The early guides were written by Adolphe Joanne and covered the various regions of France; there were also guides organized as itineraries along railway lines. The Guides Joanne were rebranded as the Guides Bleus in 1919, after an agreement between Muirhead (which had acquired the Murray guides) and Hachette.
To see what Princeton University Library holds, search the Main Catalog for Title=Guides Bleus or Author=Joanne, Adolphe Laurant
For a complete list of the pre-1919 guides, see:
There is a brief English-language summary at the back of the book.
Michelin guides were originally distributed free by the tire company to drivers. The red guides describe restaurants and hotels, and introduced the now-famous system of rating restaurants with stars; the green guides describe "points of interest."
There is also a series of guides to French cities published immediately after World War I.
To see what Princeton University Library holds, search the Main Catalog for Author=Pneu Michelin (Firm)
Le Guide vert Michelin: l’invention du tourisme culturel populaire
To see what Princeton University Library holds, search the Main Catalog for Author=Touring club italiano
Search for Author=Thomas Cook Ltd. to find guides published by Thomas Cook, which organized tours for middle-class travellers within the UK and to the Continent, India, the US, Australia, New Zealand, and the Near East, starting in the mid-19th century.
See also:
The history of tourism: Thomas Cook and the origins of leisure travel.
Appleton's is the premier series of guidebooks to America, and published in America, in the 19th century. There is no convenient way to find them systematically in the Main Catalog. Titles include:
General guide to United States & Canada
Handbook of American Travel
Railway & steam navigation guide
Companion handbook to US & British provinces
General guide: western & southern states
General guide: New England, middle states
Appletons’ guide-book to Alaska and the northwest coast
Appleton’s southern and western travellers’ guide
Appletons’ guide to Mexico: including a chapter on Guatemala: and an English-Mexican vocabulary
The WPA guides: mapping America. Christine Bold
To find these guides in the Main Catalog, do a keyword search for "federal writers project guides"
For a complete list of the guides, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Guide_Series, or American Guide Series: Works by the Federal Writers Project. Marc S. Selvaggio. Berkeley, Calif.: Schoyer's Antiquarian Books, 1990 [Princeton does not have a copy].
1936, on the continent; the entertaining travel annual. Eugene Fodor. London: W. Aldor, 1936.
An official guide to eastern Asia; transcontinental connections between Europe and Asia. Prepared by the Imperial Japanese Government Railways. Tokyo, Japan, 1913-17.
v. 1. Manchuria & Chōsen.--v. 2. Southwestern Japan.--v. 3. Northeastern Japan.--v. 4. China.--v.5. East Indies.
Across Asia on the cheap: a complete guide to making the overland trip. Tony Wheeler. [Paddington, N.S.W.]: Lonely Planet, 1973.
The G.I.'s guide to travelling in Europe. Arthur Frommer. [Oberammergau, Ger. : Arthur B. Frommer, 1955.]
Europe on 5 dollars a day; a guide to inexpensive travel. Arthur Frommer. [New York, Trade Distributors: Greenberg, 1957.]