PREFACE.
The chief object of the Handbook for Paris, which is
now issued for the fifteenth time, and corresponds with the
fifteenth French edition, is to render the traveller as nearly
as possible independent of the services of guides, commission-
naires, and innkeepers, and to enable him to employ his time
and his money to the best advantage.
Objects of general interest, described by the Editor from
his personal observation, are those with which the Handbook
principally deals. A detailed account of all the specialties of
Paris would of course far exceed the limits of a work of this
character; but it will be found that the present volume, while
recording the gigantic transformations in the external ap¬
pearance of the city since the beginning of the Second Empire,
has also bestowed considerable attention on the historical
and archaeological aspects of the French metropolis.
The Maps and Plans, upon which the utmost care has
been bestowed, will, it is hoped, be found serviceable. Those
which relate to Paris itself (one clue-map, one large plan,
five special plans of the most important quarters of the city,
and one omnibus-plan) have been collected in a separate cover
at the end of the volume, and may if desired be severed from
the Handbook altogether. The subdivision of the Plan of the
city into three sections distinguished by different colours
will be found materially to facilitate reference, as it ob¬
viates the necessity of unfolding a large sheet of paper at
each consultation.
A short account of the routes from London to Paris, and
of the principal towns of Northern France, with their magni¬
ficent Gothic churches, will be acceptable to most travellers.
In the Handbook are enumerated both the first-class
hotels and those of humbler pretension. The latter may often
be selected by the 'voyageur en gargon' with little sacrifice
of real comfort, and considerable saving of expenditure. The
asterisks indicate those hotels and restaurants which the
Editor has reason to believe to be provided with the comforts
and conveniences expected in an up-to-date establishment,
and also to be well managed and with a reasonable scale of
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