Ward Lock travel guides

Ward, Lock & Co.

Company type	Private
Industry	Publishing
Founded	1870s
Headquarters	London , United Kingdom
Products	Travel guide books (Ward Lock travel guides, Red Guides)

Ward Lock travel guides, also known as Red Guides (circa 1870s–1970s), were a series of tourist guide books focusing on destinations within the British Isles and continental Europe. These publications were produced by the London-based firm Ward, Lock & Co.. The company promoted these guides as both "entertaining and easy to read" and the "most affordable and reliable travel companions." Emphasizing useful travel details, they set themselves apart from similar offerings like Methuen & Co.'s Little Guides. Although widely used, some reviewers criticized them for being overly promotional and lacking in critical perspective.

List of Ward Lock guides by geographic coverage

Belgium

• + Index

East of England region

• Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to Felixstowe (1910)
• Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to Aldeburgh (1911)

London region

• Pictorial Guide to London (Ward & Lock, 1879)
  • 1901 edition
  • Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to London and its Environs (Ward, Lock & Co., 1907, 28th edition)
• Ward and Lock's Holiday Trips Round and About London (c. 1880)

North East England region

• Ward and Lock's Illustrated Guide to, and Popular History of Redcar, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, &c (1883)

North West England region

• Southport and its Vicinity
• Ward & Lock's Tourists' Picturesque Guide to Liverpool and its Environs (c. 1881, 5th edition)
• Ward and Lock's pictorial and historical guide to Furness Abbey, with excursions around Morecambe Bay (1884)
• Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to the English Lake District (Ward, Lock, 1916, 17th edition)

South East England region

• Brighton and its Suburbs
• Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to the Isle of Wight (14th edition)
• Windsor and its Castle
• Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to Eastbourne, Beachy Head, Seaford, &c (Ward, Lock and Co., 1901)
• Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to Brighton and Hove, the South Downs, Shoreham, Bramber, Lewes, Newhaven, Seaford, etc., with routes for motorists and cyclists (1908, 6th edition)
• Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to Broadstairs (1910)
• Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to Canterbury (1910)
• Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to Canterbury, Herne Bay, Whitstable and the Isle of Thanet (Ward, Lock & Co., 1920)
• Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Sandwich, Margate, Canterbury, and North-East Kent (c. 1922, 7th edition)

Wales

• Ward and Lock's (formerly Shaw's) Illustrated Guide and Popular History of North Wales, Ward, Lock & Co., London, circa 1884
• Pictorial and Descriptive Guides covering Bangor, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno, Rhyl (1910s)
• New Pictorial and Descriptive Guide for Tenby, Pembroke, Carmarthen, and South Wales, 1912 edition
• Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to Cardiff and South Wales, approximately 1917
• North Wales (southern region): Aberystwyth, Towyn, Barmouth, Criccieth, Pwllheli, Llangollen, Snowdon, etc., 13th edition published in 1959

External links

• Ward Lock Red Guides