Three Men and a Bradshaw

Three Men and a Bradshaw is a collection of the irresistibly witty holiday journals of John George Freeman and his brothers, who were early passengers during the book years of the Victorian railway tourism industry.
     Over-priced tickets, borderline-inedible food, inconsiderate fellow passengers and mile after mile of endless grey drizzle... There is much that remains all too familiar to the modern rail passenger in the 140-odd years that have passed since the early 1870s, when John George Freeman set out on a railway tour of Britain's most fashionable holiday destinations along with his brothers Joseph and Charles.
     The Freeman brothers, all London cloth merchants by trade, were early patrons of the booming Victorian industry in railway tourism. From Devon to North Wales to the Isle of Wight, the rapid expansion of Britain's rail system -- along with the publication of George Bradshaw's ever-trustworthy guides to the new railways -- had rendered the history and landscape of the entire nation readily accessible to intrepid holidaymakers such as the Freeman brothers.
     In Three Men and a Bradshaw, the very best of the journals that John George Freeman kept of their travels are brought together to create a fascinating and uniquely personal artefact. Beautifully illustrated with John's original drawings, this is an enchanting description of a distant but nonetheless recognisable Britain which blends together the singularly English wit of Jerome K. Jerome and the Pooterish pathos of the Grossmith brothers' most famous comic creation.