Two major publishing houses recently broke the mold of traditional travel guidebooks that drone on, gray page after gray page, with breathless prose.
Alfred A. Knopf of New York and Dorling Kindersley of London introduced in October two series of strikingly similar guidebooks, distinctive because of their excellent color maps, graphics, photos and illustrations and terse text. The books, almost identical in size (about 41/2 by 8 inches), show and explain at the same time.The Knopf Guides cover Amsterdam, Florence, Istanbul, London and Venice, with San Francisco on the way, to be followed by Athens, New York, Provence, Rome, Vienna and Thailand in 1994. Dorling Kindersley launched its Eyewitness Travel Guides with London, New York, Paris and Rome, to be followed by Florence/Tuscany, Prague, France, San Francisco and Vienna next year.
For travelers who usually thumb through Birnbaum, Fodor's, Frommer, Blue Guides, Lonely Planet and similar text-driven books, the Knopf and Eyewitness guides provide a refreshingly graphic look at the destinations they cover. They also contain information on where to stay, eat, shop and how to get around.
The major difference between Knopf and Eyewitness is that Knopf is more culturally oriented, while Eyewitness takes a you-are-there approach. It's not by coincidence that both have similar qualities, made possible by high-tech computer designing.
The concept for the guides was created by Gallimard Publishers of Paris.
"We were going to collaborate with Gallimard to do one set of guides," said John Sargent, chief executive officer of Dorling Kindersley (called DK for short) in New York. "Gallimard very much felt they wanted their guides to be more culturally oriented. And we wanted ours to be very much on the ground, what-you-need-to-know oriented. They went their way, and we went ours.
"Since they (the two series of guides) came out of the initial concept, you can see they're at the same price point ($25), they're the same size, they use extensive color, they're both revolutionary. Theirs went on a much more cultural route and less an on-the-ground useful guide than ours."
What is impressive about both series is the incredible amount of work and money that has gone into them. Much money and work went into both series. Every page is heavily designed and packed with details.
Sargent said the Eyewitness style "is putting an enormous amount of information very close to the picture so you can actually absorb both the image and the information, and absorb a lot of knowledge on a single page. We felt that for a travel guide it would be nice to have it feel from today's world - very video and visually oriented." DK calls the graphic/word linkage "lexigraphic."
Travelers will find both books user-friendly. Each explains how to use the guidebooks, Knopf to a lesser degree because its books aren't as graphically complex as the Eyewitness books.
In the London guides, for example, Knopf breaks down its chapters into nature, history, London life, architecture, London as seen by painters and writers, the sights of London, a historical journey, villages and museums, London's parks, the West End, the East End, the Thames River and outside the center. The Practical Information section carries brief details on how to get around, a brief city profile, London in a day, a week, two weeks, London for children and some information on pubs, antiquing and events.
Eyewitness, on the other hand, introduces London through a geographic and historical perspective and then breaks London down into 16 areas and suggests five guided walks. Under a section called Travelers' Needs, the book provides details on where to stay, restaurants and pubs, shops and markets, entertainment in London and children's London. A Survival Guide explains everything from getting around to how to use London's phones.
Each publisher lives up to its emphasis: more culture and detail in Knopf, more you-are-there-now in Eyewitness.
If you're visiting Parliament, you'll learn more about the workings of the House of Commons and the House of Lords from Knopf. But if you're looking for in-depth coverage, neither guide provides it.