Do you know who coined the term “travelogue”? Until today, I didn’t know that it was this guy. Burton Holmes is known as America’s most famous travel showman, and even has his very own Hollywood star. A camera enthusiast from a young age, Holmes dropped out of school at sixteen and began traveling, first to Europe with his grandmother, and then to Japan. Early film clips from his travels are recognized as the very first travelogues. He soon established a travel film production company and began capturing the world.
There’s much more to the story, and a good place to continue learning about this travel pioneer is between the pages of Burton Holmes Travelogues: The World’s Greatest Traveler, which was released last fall by Taschen. Holmes took over 30,000 photos and 500,000 feet of film during the course of his travels through every continent. This 300+ page archive has collected the very best of his work.
Bonus for folks in the Rochester, NY area: Author and editor Genoa Caldwell will be giving a presentation about Burton Holmes at the George Eastman House tomorrow, Oct. 18 at 6 pm, as part of their Wish You Were Here travel photography lecture series.