Lot 105
Travel
Large collection of travel guides, mainly 19th century
Auction: 16 June 2026 from 10:00 BST
Description
including: Thomas Cook & Son, Peking, North China, South Manchuria, and Korea, 1924 (fifth edition, original cloth, folding map); Imperial Japanese Government Railways, An Official Guide to Eastern Asia … Vol. IV. China, 1915 (original cloth, folding maps, rear inner hinge cracked); John Wilson, Wilson's Guide to Rothesay, and the Island of Bute, Rothesay: John Wilson, 1848 (original cloth, engraved map, additional title-page and plates); John Bower, Description of the Abbeys of Melrose, and Old Melrose, Edinburgh: for the author, 1822 (second edition, original boards, folding aquatint frontispiece); A Concise History of Worcester, Worcester: T. Eaton, 1808 (half calf, aquatint frontispiece, plates); 5 leporello-bound photographic view books of Genoa, Naples, Rome, Malta and Copenhagen, 19th century; approx. 30 Baedeker and similar guides for countries including Egypt, Italy, Great Britain, India, etc.; and similar (approx. 50)
Provenance
From the collection of the late Professor Roland Paxton MBE FICE FRSE (1932-2025), 'Britain's foremost historian of civil engineering' (Telegraph, obituary, 12th November 2025). Professor Paxton was also a leading conservationist of Britain's engineering heritage, and led successful campaigns to restore two of the world's most important railway structures, the Laigh Milton Viaduct in Ayrshire, the world's oldest surviving railway bridge, and the Union Chain Bridge, the world's oldest suspension bridge still carrying road traffic.