Scenic Guidebook "BEAUTIFUL FLORIDA: Scenes along the Florida East Coast Railway Through the Land of Ponce de Leon" Circa 1916

Exceptional find for railroad or hotel memorabilia collectors and historical archivists!

Wonderful and very rare scenic antique guidebook, "BEAUTIFUL FLORIDA: Scenes Along the Florida East Coast Railway Through the Land of Ponce de Leon". 

The book is filled with a collection of twenty-four (24) photomechanical plates illustrating picturesque points and hotels along the Florida East Coast Railway between Jacksonville and Key West, Florida built by the companies of Henry Flagler.  Published exclusively for the Interstate Company and sold to travelers enroute on trains of the Florida Coast Railway, the pictorial book was compiled and printed by the Albertype Company of Brooklyn, New York.

Although there is no copyright date printed on the book, Columbia University Libraries dates the book to 1914. The back is stamped with the publisher name.

The 12 ¾” x 9 ¾” book is bound with a cord on the left. Photomechanical plate illustrations are in great condition and are approximately 8 ⅛” x 6 ¼”, other than the smaller print of Henry Flagler. Each plate remains adhered to its page. The paper front and back cover panels do show wear, some paper loss and edge, edge-wear and staining. Please review photos carefully.

About the Florida East Coast Railway and Florida East Coast Hotels

Spanning 500-miles of coastline, and called the "American Riviera," the area was developed in the most part by Henry M. Flagler, John D. Rockefeller’s closest adviser in the 1870s.  Flagler was an aggressive entrepreneur who built his fortune helping assemble the Standard Oil empire. 

In 1885, at the age of fifty-five, following a successful career at Standard Oil, Flagler invested himself in the development of Florida, initially with the construction of the Ponce de León luxury hotel in St. Augustine, the city where he had honeymooned with his second wife. Realizing he could never fill its rooms unless better transportation with the North was available, he embarked on the second railroad venture of his lifetime, creation of the Florida East Coast Railway.

Flagler went on to purchase the Hotel Ormand in Daytona, build the Hotel Royal Poinciana and Palm Beach Inn, later named The Breaker, both in Palm Beach, and the Hotel Royal Palm in Miami.

Prior to Henry Flagler investing in Florida, it was perhaps the poorest state in the Union. Thanks to Flagler and his vision for the region, Florida is now the third largest state in the Union with an economy larger than 90% of the world's nations.