Guidebooks were not published regularly until the early 19th century, partly the result of the French wars which closed the continent to those undertaking the grand tour and partly of the cult of the picturesque which led people to seek out beautiful landcapes in England. Early guidebooks are useful in giving details of facilities such as hotels and circulating libraries which were established in the coastal resorts. The arrival of the railways in the mid 19th century gave a boost to the publication of county guidebooks in such series as Murray's or Ward Lock's. In the present century many places, large and small have issued official guidebooks for tourists. Guidebooks are often undated and clues have often to be sought in the advertisements, which in any case are often the most useful part of the contents for the social historian.

Prior to the 19th century not many people ventured far from home for pleasure. The accounts of a dozen travellers from Leland in the mid-sixteenth century to Southey in the early nineteenth have been gathered together in Early tours in Devon and Cornwall, edited by R.Pearse Chope (1918, repr 1967). More recent anthologies appear in the Travellers' tales series edited by Todd Gray and published by Mint Press.