P&O Pocket Book

Maker P&O (British, founded 1837)

Publisher A & C Black Ltd (founded 1807)

Date1926

Object number00005974

NameBook

MediumInk on paper, cloth covered boards

DimensionsOverall: 26 x 169 x 114 mm, 0.3 kg

ClassificationsBooks and journals

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionA 1926 edition of the P&O Pocketbook which acted as a travel guide to various countries that passengers might explore. Providing general points of interest, maps, practical data and some illustrations, the book is also a guide to the various shipping companies that were associated with P&O, enabling passengers to combine routes, change tickets and compile their own itinerary if required. Each destination country is featured and a large pull out map of rail networks across the USA.HistoryThis book is an early version of a Frommers or Lonely Planet travel guide. A combination of practical advice and commentary of points of interest, tourists could choose what route appealed most and be assisted by the charts of local agents, affiliated shipping lines and shipping maps. P&O was at this stage an established powerhouse in world travel and post WWI promoted the idea that "world travel today is [an] easy and pleasant accomplishment as never before. Of the strength of this appeal this book may afford some evidence. Here the reader will not look for concrete travel programmes; these, from among the volume's geographical travel parts, he may, with a good deal of enjoyment, himself compile or, better still, plan in consultation with the Companies experts..this little volume will befriend him a second time when at length he is under weigh, for at every stage of his journey the series of up-to-date and practical 'Notes on Ports and Places' will afford him local guidance". SignificancePost WWI sea travel recovered and fleets of ships were newer with shipping companies forming associations that enabled their passengers to travel the world in a more through way than ever before. Local ports and routes were opened up to international travellers and these early travel guides offered the combination of practical advice and general tourist commentary.