 It remains one of the very few guide books to be regarded as a classic of travel literature in its own right.Of the 2,000 copies of this first published edition 1,800 were sold by the end of the year.Murray wanted a single-volume handbook, so Ford discarded much of the preliminary content and incorporated it with fresh material as "Gatherings from Spain", issued in Murray's "Home and Colonial Library" at the end of 1846.