Abstract
‘Guide-books are worthy of study in their own right, as a form of human activity; if few of them possess literary merits of as high rank, many of them fulfil to a remarkable degree the purposes for which they exist.’ So begins Esmond de Beer in his own work on the development of the guidebook. And de Beer collected these publications – late 15th century Roman guidebooks to shrines and churches, guides to Italy and France, John Murray’s handbooks, and the famed red Baedekers.
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