Reading an 1849 Philippine travel guide

BETWEEN 1839 and 1865 a curious book was printed in Manila with a certain periodicity. The title was Guía de forasteros en las Islas Filipinas para el año... (Guide for foreign visitors in the Philippines Islands in the year...). Despite the title, the contents little resemble what we can find today in famous guides such as Lonely Planet, Wikitravel or any travelog. It just contains an encyclopedic picture of the country by the indicated year — tons of data, statistics, calendars, etc., but not too much of the kind of information that could actually be useful to a prospective reader.

I used to ignore these guides when doing my bibliographic research, obsessed as I was with finding literature, accounts, letters and chronicles. It was a big mistake as the generous reader will find out.