Looking for a slightly different niche in the travel book category, Michelin has come up with a series of 25-page “all-in-one” guides that use folded maps to highlight a neighborhood and provide localized information on attractions and facilities.
The first books in the series, called “Michelin Map & Guide” sell at $9.95 a pop, and cover Barcelona, London, New York, Paris, Rome and Venice. The price may seem high for such a brief guide; time will tell if it’s worth it. Michelin is hoping the idea that each fold-out page is complete and doesn’t require cross-checking other parts of a guide will be a winner.
Stay tuned: Gumbo’s ordered a copy of the London guide and will report back.
Photo: St. Paul’s Cathedral and City Waterfront, London seen from Tate Modern
Yes, do. I was feigning politeness. Let me be clear, Michelin has stolen their “slightly different niche” from Knopf and copied the most perfect little guides ever printed. Who do they think they’re kidding?
These sound suspiciously like the Knopf Mapguides that I’ve been using for years and love. See the fun video: http://knopfdoubleday.com/knopf-mapguides/
I’ll have to look and see. The Knopf guides I had years ago combined a separate map and a small book in a plastic wallet.
Two things…
1. After a visit to my shelves, I see that what I remembered as Knopf products were actually the Fodor Citypack series.
2. I won’t know for sure until my Michelin London arrives over the weekend, but one difference appears to be that the Knopf has 8 maps for 8 districts, while the Michelin identifies itself as 25 pages. But how pages are being counted I can’t yet say.
But I’m not sure that one could really apply the word “stolen” to publishing a rival folded-map guide, no matter how dishonest it may seem to claim to be entirely novel.