Collecting Travel Books, A Worldwide Hit

Above, the Japan section at Distant Lands Travel Bookstore in Pasadena.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

People will collect just about anything.

Here's a subject near and dear to my heart: collecting travel books.

The Somerville News (of Somerville, Massachusetts) reported:

Summer is primetime for journeys to far-away lands by way of one’s imagination and by actually making the decision to travel! A collection of travel books is a great way to sample life in other countries and learn about their culture and history whether or not one makes the necessary arrangements to turn their dream into a reality. From the very first travel guide put out by Baedekers in Germany, collectors and travelers alike have been fascinated with books that provide a colorful verbal and sometimes pictorial view of the world.

The article reports that some country guidebooks are rarer and more collectible than others:

As one gets a little more off the beaten travel path, old guides become very rare and more valuable. Guides for Greece are rarer than for Paris, while finding a guide for a country like Syria is even rarer. 

Guides to Russia are also rare. When communism closed the borders in 1917, travel writers were not allowed in to document the sites for many years, leaving a hole in the Russian travel guide history.

Collecting travel books is relatively less expensive than other items:

The best part about collecting travel guides is the cost. For relatively little money, you can start collecting these books. They are also easy to find. Travel guides pop up in boxes at garage sales, inside antique shops and at flea markets. If you are concentrating your collection on a certain area or specific time period, it may take a little more effort to find the right books but the payoff is worth it. 

Could The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan be in someone's travel book collection?

To read the full article, go here.