The Blue Guides are a series of detailed and authoritative
travel guidebooks focused on
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
,
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
, and (where relevant)
archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...
along with the history and context necessary to understand them. A modicum of practical travel information, with recommended restaurants and hotels, is also generally included.
The first Blue Guide – ''London and its Environs'' – was published in 1918 by the Scottish brothers
James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguati ...
and
Findlay Muirhead. The Muirheads had for many years been the English-language editors of the famous German ''
Baedeker
Verlag Karl Baedeker, founded by Karl Baedeker on July 1, 1827, is a German publisher and pioneer in the business of worldwide travel guides. The guides, often referred to simply as " Baedekers" (a term sometimes used to refer to similar works fro ...
'' series. When they also acquired the rights to
John Murray III
John Murray III (1808–1892) was a British publisher, third of the name at the John Murray company founded in London in 1777.
Life
The eldest son of John Murray II (1778–1843) by Anne Elliott, daughter of Charles Elliot, the Edinburgh publis ...
’s famous travel “
handbooks” they established the Blue Guides as heir to the great 19th century guide book tradition.
History
Precursors
In 1828,
Karl Baedeker
Karl Ludwig Johannes Baedeker ( , ; 3 November 1801 – 4 October 1859) was a German publisher whose company, Baedeker, set the standard for authoritative guidebooks for tourists.
Karl Baedeker was descended from a long line of printers, boo ...
(1801–59) published his first guidebook, ''Rheinreise von Mainz bis Cöln'' and in 1836 John Murray III’s (1808–92) first ''Handbook'' was released (''Handbook for Travellers on the Continent''). The first ''Baedeker'' in English, ''The Rhine'' (1861), was published jointly by Baedeker and Murray. These handbooks were to become the standard for English travellers for the remainder of the 19th Century.
James Muirhead (1853–1934) began working for Baedeker in 1878, preparing a ''Handbook for Travellers to London''. Findlay Muirhead (1860–1935), graduate of the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
, left his studies at
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
in 1887 to join his brother at Baedeker. For almost the next 30 years the brothers were responsible for all English language ''Baedekers'', including compiling guides to Britain, the US and Canada. Following the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the Muirhead brothers found themselves out of a job. They acquired the rights to Murray’s ''Handbooks'' in 1915 from the cartographical publisher
Edward Stanford
Edward Stanford (27 May 1827 3 November 1904) was the founder of Stanfords, now a pair of map and book shops based in London and Bristol, UK.
Biography
Born in 1827, and educated at the City of London School, Edward Stanford developed his i ...
, who had bought them 14 years earlier from
John Murray IV. In the same year they established their company,
Muirhead’s Guide-books Limited.
The Blue Guides and the ''Guides Bleu''
A 1917 agreement with French publisher
Hachette Hachette may refer to:
* Hachette (surname)
* Hachette (publisher), a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing
** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary
** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm
See also
* Hachett ...
allowed co-publication in English and French of guidebooks under the names ''Blue Guides'' and ''Guides Bleus'', respectively. Hachette’s existing ''Guides Joannes'' had blue covers, while ''Baedeker''’s guides had red covers. The first Blue Guide, ''Blue Guide London and its Environs'', was published in 1918. Two years later, Hachette published ''Guide Bleu Londres et ses Environs''. The Hachette relationship with the Blue Guides ended in 1933.
1931-82
The Blue Guides were acquired by
Ernest Benn Limited
Ernest Benn Limited was a British publishing house.
Sir John Benn
Founded by Sir John Benn as Benn Brothers in 1880, it started as the publisher of the trade journal, ''The Cabinet Maker''.
Ernest Benn
After Sir John was elected to Parliamen ...
in 1931. (Litellus)
Russell Muirhead (1896-1976), Findlay’s son, became the series editor in 1934. He retired in 1963, remaining a consulting editor until 1965 when the Muirhead family’s connection with the series ended.
In 1963,
Stuart Rossiter
Percival Stuart Bryce Rossiter (25 February 1923 – 1982) was a renowned British philatelist and postal historian who wrote extensively about British postal history and postage stamps of British colonies in Africa and was involved in numerous ph ...
(1923-82) was appointed editor and in 1967 the first of Rossiter’s “scrupulously edited guides, compiled for the independent educated traveller wanting to avoid the monotony of international uniformity” (''Blue Guide Greece'') was compiled by Rossiter himself and published. ''Blue Guide Rome and Environs'', by
Alta Macadam, was released in 1971. Her Italy titles thereafter become some of the best selling Blue Guides and included ''Sicily'' (1975), ''Northern Italy'' (1978), ''Florence'' (1982), ''Venice'' (1980), ''Tuscany'' (1993), and ''Umbria'' (1993), all frequently updated and re-issued. Other key Blue Guide authors are and have been
Ian Robertson (''Spain'', ''Portugal'', ''Ireland'', ''Austria'', ''Switzerland'', ''Cyprus'', ''France'', & ''Paris and Versailles''),
John Tomes (''Scotland'', ''Wales''),
Ian Ousby (''England''),
Paul Blanchard (''Italy'').
1982 to present
In 1982,
W.W. Norton
W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton An ...
of New York became the United States co-publisher, selling all Blue Guides in that country. Two years later, the Blue Guides were acquired by
A&C Black (Publishers) Limited, themselves later acquired by
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. In 2004,
Somerset Books, a small, London-based, family-owned travel publisher known for its ''Visible Cities'' guides, acquired the Blue Guides. A year later, they published the first new title under the new ownership, ''Blue Guide Northern Italy''.
References
''History of the Blue Guides'' from the official website
External links
Blue Guides official websiteList of all ''Blue Guides'' published since 1918
{{Authority control
Travel guide books
Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom
Book publishing companies based in New York (state)
Series of books
Publishing companies established in 1918