BEMENT, Austin F.. A Complete and Official Road Guide of the Lincoln Highway. (1924 - FIFTH EDITION)

AUTHOR: BEMENT, Austin F. 

TITLE: A Complete and Official Road Guide of the Lincoln Highway.

PUBLISHER: Detroit, MI: The Lincoln Highway Assoc, Inc., 1924.

DESCRIPTION: FIFTH EDITION. 1 vol., 8-7/8" x 5-3/4", 536pp., illustrated, with the fold-out map in the rear, complete. Bound in the publisher’s original brown embossed limp brown cloth.

CONDITION: General rubbing and handling to the binding, hinges fine, head and foot of spine fine, internally clean, no previous ownership notes or markings, still a VERY GOOD copy.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: We have been unable to find any edition of these guides ever appearing at auction or on line.

First published in 1915. The fifth edition was published in 1924 and was the final and by far the most complete & elaborate, containing numerous route changes that the Association ever issued. Its 536 pages offered a wealth of historical and informative material, maps of routes to western scenic spots and other items of value to those interested in the general subject of highway improvement as well as to the tourist. It was dedicated to Carl G. Fisher as "The Father of the Lincoln Highway."
These guides served as the earliest, and for a time, the only handbooks on highway improvement. National educational authorities recommended them for classroom use. As another aid to the tourist, it prepared detailed telegraphic reports of road conditions which were supplied free to press and public. These were the only reports ever to cover completely any transcontinental route.

In 1924, Austin Bement, vice-president and secretary of the Lincoln Highway Association, boasted that "Instead of 60 days or more now being required to drive from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the ordinary, unhurried progress of a pleasure party can make the trip on the Lincoln Highway in the summer months in less than a month. Twenty days is an easy drive for anyone."