A handbook of the trip from Leicester, Nottingham, and Derby to Liverpool and the coast of North Wales : the first conducted tour of Switzerland

Bringing together a unique collection of sources, currently only accessible at the Thomas Cook Archives in London, this set explores the origins of organized tour holidays, as pioneered by the entrepreneurial Thomas Cook.

The collection is truly international, covering tours in Britain and also Switzerland, America, Japan, China, India, Ceylon, Singapore, Israel and Palestine.

As well as giving an insight into the workings of this long standing, successful company, the works selected are also important pieces of travel history.

For example, Thomas Cook's Letters from the Sea and Foreign Lands.. (1872) gives details not only of the height of the Yosemite Waterfalls (as well as the Indian and American names), but also baggage allowances on French and Italian railways, itineraries for journeys from Liverpool to Alexandria via New York, Chicago, Yokohama, Nagasaki, Hong Kong, Singapore and Delhi.

The first three volumes in the set are all facsimile reproductions.

The fourth volume is a new publication. The set also contains a new introduction which places the works selected in the appropriate historical and contemporary context.