BRADSHAW'S RAILWAY COMPANION de [Bradshaw, George] - 1840

Manchester: Printed and published by Bradshaw & Blacklock, 1840. First edition thus. Horizontally ribbed olive green cloth with a paper title label pasted at centre of front coverThe label is gilt with patches of green and says 'Bradshaw's Railway Companion. . There is a tear to cloth on lower part of front joint (2.5cm). Originally held together by adhesive- so there was no sewing involved, although the maps are all in very good condition and the leaves are clean and all present, the adhesive has since decayed, so a fragile shaken copy. . (77 x 121 mm), 32 leaves, butterfly folded containing folded map of London (208 x 138 mm)with an early gloss paper finish, double page map of Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester & Leeds, 7 double page maps, hand coloured in outline, of the country through which the railways pass, a folding plan showing profile of the gradients of the London- Birmingham railway(370 x 110cm), and a folding map of the railways of England and Wales(150 x 195mm)

Bradshaw's Railway Guides were indispensable companions to UK travellers until they eventually ceased publication in 1961. George Bradshaw first published his railway timetables in 1839 and the name was changed to Bradshaw's Railway Companion in 1840. To keep up with the rapidly expanding rail network and timetable changes at that time George Bradshaw exhorts the reader to keep the publishers informed of any changes in routes or timetable and the guides were reissued every 3 months. Bradshaw's guides are frequently mentioned by writers throughout literature by authors including Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Daphne du Maurier and according to Bram Stoker, were read by Dracula himself.