The Ward Lock guides adopted their familar red cloth covers in 1892. Although, at present, I do not have such an early copy but this illustration for the Isle of Wight is supposed to be dated 1894 .

The other guides illustrated below are the early variations of the front covers that I have in my collection. My earliest example of this period is an 1897 edition for Paris and therefore I have made the assumptions that the cover changed slightly after 1894 when Bowden was no longer included in the publishers name and that they adopted the style that was in use in 1897

Although the arms style was in general use from 1905 until 1910/11 I do have two "arms" examples which are dated 1902/03 and 1904/05. The guide dates are taken from the series date which appears at the foot of an advert page either at the front or back of the guide. This date may not be that accurate because I have at least one example where the series guide date is 1899/00 and yet there is a set of hotel adverts which has a date of 1901/02.

1892 -1894

1895 to 1901

1903 to 1905

1905 to 1910