Bradshaw: the man behind the guide The Emperor Nicholas II reigns as tsar in Russia, Madrid is a city where cafés at night "are not suitable for ladies," and a holiday in Lucerne, including a second-class return ticket, seven days" accommodation and three meals a day, can be bought for less than £8. This is the Europe opened up by Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide and General Handbook of 1913, which is Michael Portillo's constant companion during his new series. Besides the timetables of services throughout Europe and North Africa, down to the remotest branch line, the 1,100-page guide has briefings on countries, towns and "watering holes" and brisk summaries of what is and isn't ("the dreary interior of Russia") worthy of notice. There are advertisements not only for countless hotels but for the necessities of travel, from Eno's fruit salt to Aertex Cellular underwear. On his travels around Britain, Portillo took with him an original of Bradshaw's Tourist Handbook, examples of which are extremely rare. The popularity of the series prompted a couple of publishers to produce facsimiles of that handbook, one of which was made from Portillo's own copy. "The cover actually has an image of my fingerprints," Portillo says. I've held this Bradshaw so often that my thumbprint is on one side and my forefinger on the other. Inside, though, it's all the work of George Bradshaw and his staff. Bradshaw produced a map of British canals, rivers and railways in 1830. He turned to collating the timetables of Britain's multiplicity of railway companies in 1838 and began to issue Bradshaw's Monthly Railway Guide, in partnership with W J Adams, in 1842. His Continental Railway Guide monthly was published from 1847 until 1939 (except during the First World War). Bradshaw, a Quaker, died of cholera in 1853, but his name lives on as a byword for detail and reliability. Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide (Old House, RRP £25) is available from Telegraph Books (0844 871 1514; books.telegraph.co.uk) at £20 plus £2.50 p & p.