Collector's item, landmark in the history of the tour guide, snapshot of Britain in the 1860s - Bradshaw's Handbook deserves a place on the bookshelf of any traveller, railway enthusiast, historian or anglophile. Produced as the British railway network was reaching its zenith, and as tourism by rail became a serious pastime for the better off, it was the first national tourist guide specifically organized around railway journeys, and to this day offers a glimpse through the carriage window at a Britain long past. This is a facsimile of the actual book - often referred to as 'Bradshaw's Guide' - that inspired the 'Great British Railway Journeys' television series, possibly the only surviving example of the 1863 edition.
Author Biography
George Bradshaw (1801-1853) was an English cartographer, printer and publisher. He is most famous for developing a series of railway timetables and guides. The books became synonymous with its publisher so that, for Victorians and Edwardians alike, a railway timetable was 'a Bradshaw'. After his death Punch magazine said of Bradshaw's labours: 'seldom has the gigantic intellect of man been employed upon a work of greater utility.'
![Bradshaw's Monthly Descriptive Railway Guide [afterw.] Bradshaw's Through Route Railway Guide on Hardback by George Bradshaw](https://d3fa68hw0m2vcc.cloudfront.net/681/307801581.jpeg "Bradshaw's Monthly Descriptive Railway Guide [afterw.] Bradshaw's Through Route Railway Guide on Hardback by George Bradshaw")
![Bradshaw's Monthly Descriptive Railway Guide [afterw.] Bradshaw's Through Route Railway Guide by George Bradshaw](https://d3fa68hw0m2vcc.cloudfront.net/049/308959128.jpeg "Bradshaw's Monthly Descriptive Railway Guide [afterw.] Bradshaw's Through Route Railway Guide by George Bradshaw")
![Bradshaw's Monthly Descriptive Railway Guide [afterw.] Bradshaw's Through Route Railway Guide on Hardback by George Bradshaw](https://d3fa68hw0m2vcc.cloudfront.net/e9f/205859557.jpeg "Bradshaw's Monthly Descriptive Railway Guide [afterw.] Bradshaw's Through Route Railway Guide on Hardback by George Bradshaw")
![Bradshaw's Continental [afterw.] Monthly Continental Railway, Steam Navigation & Conveyance Guide. June 1847 - July/oct. 1939. Special Ed by George Bradshaw](https://d3fa68hw0m2vcc.cloudfront.net/d30/309022273.jpeg "Bradshaw's Continental [afterw.] Monthly Continental Railway, Steam Navigation & Conveyance Guide. June 1847 - July/oct. 1939. Special Ed by George Bradshaw")
![Bradshaw's Illustrated Travellers' Hand Book in [Afterw.] to France by George Bradshaw](https://d3fa68hw0m2vcc.cloudfront.net/acc/299235272.jpeg "Bradshaw's Illustrated Travellers' Hand Book in [Afterw.] to France by George Bradshaw")
