The Britannica has often and successfully been used in this way. A single instance: The Rev. Dr. George R. Van DeWater of St. Andrews Church, New York City, in a letter addressed to the publishers of the new Britannica, wrote:
“I have recently had occasion to look up South America with a view to obtaining needed information for a proposed tour there, and I found all that I wanted to know and found it readily.”
Among the general classes of valuable information for the traveler are:
The excellent maps, newly made with the greatest care from the best sources;
Articles on the great countries of the world. Particularly valuable sections are those at the beginning of each of these articles on physiography, climate, etc., and those on transportation by rail and water;
Articles on the states of the Union, similarly arranged, and like them accompanied by maps and with full descriptions of the surface of the country and the means of communication, climate, etc.;
Articles on regions, rivers, mountains, etc.,—for instance on the Riviera, Alps, Nile, Rhine, Hudson, Yosemite, Yellowstone.
Articles on cities and towns, with descriptions of the principal places of interest, historical sketches, diagrams of battle-fields, etc.;
General articles such as Architecture, Painting, Museums, which give critical and related accounts of great art treasures of different periods and schools. To this information, as bearing on the particular place the traveler intends to visit, he will be guided by the Index;
Biographical articles related to the special vicinity to be visited—as for instance, Wordsworth, Coleridge and DeQuincey for the Lake District.