Published in 1844, Black’s Picturesque Tourist of Scotland offers detailed descriptions of walking, steamboat and horseback tours across Scotland, ranging from Glasgow to Edinburgh to the Highlands. Guidebooks were vital to expanding the tourism industry in Scotland as they provided important details regarding the best routes, fares, activities, and places of historical significance on the journey and what to do and not to do when a tourist is on a specific voyage. Black’s guidebooks were written for a broad range of travellers in the nineteenth century to provide different types of information for tourists depending on how much money they were willing to spend per tour. This guidebook includes fifteen detailed tours that range in distance. Additionally, the guidebook includes twenty-three itineraries for walking trips that range in length from a short day-trip to one encompassing hundreds of miles. Guidebooks were essential to the growth of the tourism industry in Scotland because they not only helped to promote Scottish culture but also encouraged both domestic and international travel into and within the country. 

Black’s guidebook testifies to the rise of tourism in Scotland throughout the nineteenth century as it was a leading factor encouraging tourism to Scotland. Black’s guidebook was vital for Scottish tourism because it included information regarding the scenery and helped to project the nation's identity, and promoting the country in the Victorian Era, when English tourists in particular played a major economic role in developing Scotland's tourism industry. Not only did Black’s guidebook help tourists from other countries get a better understanding of the country, but it also provided information for residents who may not have traveled outside of their town before. These guidebooks evaluated which routes, landscapes, travel accommodations, and major tourist attractions that were worth visiting. 

Within the case, there is the title page of the guidebook as well as an illustration of Kilchurn castle in Loch Awe, which is north-western Scotland and featured on both maps within the book.                                                                                                                                                              

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