Some years ago, I came across a treasure trove—four Baedeker guides from 1887. Maybe that isn’t everyone’s idea of a treasure, but it certainly is mine. I don’t think it was those guidebooks that gave me the idea to have my Victorian characters go off traveling for their adventures, but they did remind me that guidebooks are a wonderful source for research. You can find out how people got from place to place, where they might stay, what they would see. Guide books also tell you something about the people who were traveling too. People have always moved around the globe, but generally for a reason. Wealthy gentlemen in the 17th and 18th centuries might go on the Grand Tour to round out their education, and starting in the 18th century people like Lizzie Bennett and the Gardiners might go touring—with a guidebook to tell them which houses were worth looking at. As an aside, I’ve always thought it must be rather fun to be a nobleman who could go up to a house belon...
READ. REVIEW. REPEAT.