The Passport: The History of Man’s Most Travelled Document

This well-illustrated book tells, for the first time, the story of the passport from its earliest origins to the latest high-tech developments. Handwritten documents adorned with wax seals, modern versions in plastic covers, diplomatic passports and forgeries, all drawn from the author’s collection, complement the exciting exploits of spies and criminals and the tragic real life experiences of refugees.

First published in 2003, THE PASSPORT quickly became the seminal work on the history of the passport – informative, entertaining and revelatory. This third edition in hardback, revised and enlarged with additional illustrations, was published by Queen Anne’s Fan in 2016.

Whether explaining the invention of the identity card in revolutionary France, recounting the birth of the British blue passport in the 1920s or divulging the secrets of today’s machine readable passport, Martin Lloyd has written an informative and engrossing history book which is accessible to everyone.