Descriptive Bibliography

The textual object that I chose to examine for this assignment is a small travel guide about the Pyrenees mountain range and surrounding cities in France (note: the book is in French). Right from the start, it is rather evident that the book is a travel guide, not only because it says GeoGuide on the front cover, but because of visual elements such as a photo of the mountains and a compass symbol on the front cover as well as a small map on the back cover. Even more notable are the inner front and back covers which fold out to reveal fuller maps—one of the five greater french regions of the Pyrenees and the other of the varying altitudes in the area.

These visual elements and the collapsible nature of the maps are therefore indicators that this book is meant for travel use. In addition, the small size and light weight of the book as well as the plasticky material used for the cover and the pages also indicate its purpose for travel and the expectancy that it might be carried around and tossed into bags. This assignment really showed me how much information can be obtained about a book through simply physical interactions with it.