Small booklet featuring a driving route through the Alpes
This little booklet is one of my very favorite recent finds. It’s basically one big piece of paper folded up into eight panels with a front and back cover. When you open it up you can unfold the paper and on one side are detailed directions for driving from Nice to Évian-les-Bains in the high French Alpes on the shore of Lake Geneva (also known as Lac Léman). It’s divided into six stages with a variation for stages three, four and five. Each stage has directions and information about the towns and landmarks along the way.
When you flip it over the other side features a huge map of the entire trip and some information about “Les Services Automobiles du P.L.M” (which I think was similar to the U.S. “Auto Club”). The map is really quite detailed and traces the route with a dark red line.
There’s no date on this booklet so it’s hard to say exactly when it was published. I’m guessing maybe sometime in the 1940s or 1950s. It’s about 25cm by 12cm when folded up and 25cm by 88cm when unfolded. Now that I’ve got this little gem I’m planning on taking a weeklong trip to follow the route and see the sites.
Download a high quality PDF of this booklet (197mb) – very large file, be patient
Download a very good quality PDF of this booklet (33mb)
Download a good quality PDF of this booklet (13mb)
[click on any image to see sample pages]