Frommer's () is a travel

guide book A guide book or travel guide is "a book of information about a place designed for the use of visitors or tourists". It will usually include information about sights, accommodation, restaurants, transportation, and activities. Maps of varying det ...

series created by

Arthur Frommer Arthur Bernard Frommer () (July 17, 1929 – November 18, 2024) was an American travel writer known for founding the Frommer's brand of travel guides. Early life Arthur Bernard Frommer was born on July 17, 1929, in Lynchburg, Virginia, the son ...

in 1957. Frommer's has since expanded to include more than 350 guidebooks in 14 series, as well as other media including an eponymous radio show and a website. In 2017, the company celebrated its 60th anniversary. Frommer has maintained a travel-related blog on the company's website since 2007.

History

In 1957, Arthur Frommer, then a

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

, wrote a travel guide for American

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in Europe, and then produced a civilian version called ''Europe on $5 a Day''. The book ranked popular landmarks and sights in order of importance and included suggestions on how to travel around Europe on a budget. It was the first travel guide to show Americans that they could afford to travel in Europe. Frommer returned to the United States and began practicing law. During that time, he continued to write and also began to self-publish guidebooks to additional destinations, including New York, Mexico, Hawaii, Japan and the Caribbean. In 1977, Frommer’s trademark was sold to

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

, Inc. Pearson bought the reference division of Simon & Schuster in 1998 and sold it to

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in 1999.

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Publishing, publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and pr ...

acquired IDG Books (renamed Hungry Minds) in 2001. Arthur’s daughter, Pauline Frommer, was writing her own series of travel guidebooks and continuing the Frommer’s travel legacy. On August 13, 2012, it was announced that

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

was acquiring Frommer's for an undisclosed sum. In April 2013, it was announced that the Frommer's brand had been reacquired by Arthur Frommer and his daughter, Pauline Frommer. In July 2013, Arthur Frommer struck a deal with

Publishers Group West Publishers Group West (PGW) is a book distributor founded in 1976 in Berkeley, California that has been owned by Ingram Content Group since 2016. They share their parent company's warehouse in Jackson, Tennessee and sales offices in New York, Toro ...

to distribute and promote Frommer's books. The Frommer's guides today are among the most trusted and beloved in the world. Over 75 million Frommer's guidebooks have been sold since the line's founding.

Guidebook series

More than 75 million copies of Frommer's guide books have been sold since 1957. Over 350 titles are available in the following series: * Frommer’s Complete Guides * Frommer’s EasyGuides * Frommer's Day by Day for over 70 travel destinations * Frommer’s Portable Guides * Frommer’s Irreverent Guides * Frommer’s Memorable Walks * Frommer’s PhraseFinder & Dictionaries * Frommer’s Driving Tours * Pauline Frommer’s Guides * Frommer’s National Park Guides

In popular culture

Frommer's guidebooks are represented in the 2004 comedy '' EuroTrip'' when one of the main characters, Jamie, uses it to guide a group of teenagers around

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Jamie later gets a job with Frommer's at the end of EuroTrip. In the opening scene of 2003's '' Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle'',

Cameron Diaz Cameron Michelle Diaz (born August 30, 1972) is an American actress. Prolific in both comedy and drama, Cameron Diaz filmography, her films have grossed over $3 billion in the U.S. box-office. Her output of romantic comedies in the late 1990s a ...

enters a Mongolian beer shack holding a Frommer's guidebook. A copy can also be seen near the beginning of the 2008 film ''

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''. Frommer's guides have also been a plot point on the TV series ''This is Us" ''and have been used as clues on "Jeopardy" a number of times. Complete references from the Frommer's Guide book for Traveling around the world can be seen in the movie '' Last Stop for Paul''.

References

External links

*{{Official website Travel guide books Book series introduced in 1957

History

Guidebook series

See also

In popular culture

References

External links