Holmes B. London

Chelsea House, 1997. — 152 p. — (The World 100 Years Ago).In a time before air travel — in fact, before the airplane was invented — Burton Holmes (I870-1958) made it possible fur masses of Americans to see and experience main of the strange and wonderful countries of the world. Probably the greatest world-traveler in the first half of the 20th century, Holmes also was brilliant at chronicling the oddities of everyday life in faraway lands. His practice was to travel abroad in the summers, taking photographs and gathering material for his lectures; in the winters, he would tour the country and share his experiences. Holmes's lectures and slide shows describing his visits io cities such as Paris and London or nations like Japan and Italy drew large audiences to concert halls from New York to San Francisco.