collecting red guides

This website was inspired by collecting Ward Lock red travel guides for a number of years, culminating in collections of nearly 500 guides and covering nearly 200 different areas to date.

These collections, part of one of which is pictured below, are concentrated on guides published prior to the early 1950s, having cloth board covers and prior to the introduction of paper dust jacket covers, which distinguish the later guides.

One of the occasional joys in collecting Red Guides is the unexpected find of an enclosure - really old B&B or hotel bills, the original book purchase receipt, museum tickets, concert programmes from the 20's and so on. What a link with the past.......

The publication date of the guides is not always apparent - see the Dating Clues page and the Editions and Titles Dating page..

We are keenly interested in additional information about the guides in general or about specific guides, especially the older ones, from the late 19th century to the 1950s. If you are able to share information it may help to enrich this website as it evolves.