This blog takes its name from the original travel guide books, called “Stranger’s Guides” that were available from the 1750’s to the mid-1800’s. These guides were very basic monographs that were aimed at business travelers and typically listed the roads and primary establishments in a town. They were replaced by the “modern” travel guidebook – the first of which was published by Karl Baedeker in 1832.
I very much enjoy reading these early guides and in particular find their titles quite compelling. They speak to a different time and place. A guide to Paris published in 1816 was titled ” A New Picture of Paris – The Stranger’s Guide to the French Metropolis Accurately describing the Public Establishments, Remarkable Edifices, Places of Amusement, And Every Other Object Worthy of Attention.” A London guide published in 1820 is my favorite – ” The Stranger’s Guide; or, the London Sharper Detected: Being a Complete Exposure of All the Frauds of London, Practised By Bawds Bullies Fortune-Tellers Footpads Gamblers Gossips Highwaymen Housebreakers Jilts Kidnappers Ring-Droppers Pimps Procuresses”. The book, which purports to warn countrymen, visitors to London, etc., of the dangers of London low life, consists of an alphabetical listing of criminals, ne’er-do-wells and the like, with brief accounts of each.
It seemed somewhat appropriate to bring back the Stranger’s Guide, given that this blog is devoted to travel and travel writing. And the world, at times, is still a very strange place.
Welcome to the Stranger’s Guide.
