NEW BOOK: TRAVELLERS' MONEY

Travellers' Money: An Illustrated History of Bank Orders, Letters of Credit, and Traveller's Checks
Dr. Ilkka Mäkitie:

Jerne Ltd., Lahti / Finland 2026.
Format 21 x 29.7 cm, hardcover,
188 pages, fully illustrated in color.
In English.
ISBN 978-952-88-1261-6 .
Price: 20 EUR plus postage

To order, contact the author: ilkka.makitie@saunalahti.fi

These days, people who travel usually rely on credit cards they have with them, electronic payment options, or their smartwatch for payments on site.

Just a few decades ago, the question of which means of payment to carry was [difficult].

In order to be able to pay for hotel costs, transport and restaurant visits while traveling – especially abroad – it is an important part of travel planning.

Foreign currency was acquired at the home bank counter, provided its import into the destination country was permitted. Travelers also purchased traveler's checks and gasoline vouchers; in some European countries, money could be withdrawn from local post offices using a postal savings book. If the export of foreign currency from the home country and/or the import of local currency into the destination country were restricted, new challenges arose: Travelers opened letters of credit with their banks for cash withdrawals abroad, applied for the allocation of travel currency, and paid an amount in advance to shipping lines in their home currency for onboard expenses, receiving equivalent onboard money orders that were valid only during the voyage. There is hardly any research on the means of payment that travelers carried with them in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In his new book, the author explores payment methods related to travel during this period. He presents the commonly used travel payment methods of the time—money orders, letters of credit, and traveler's checks—explaining their origins and precise usage. For each of these three forms of travel payment, various issues are then presented and explained, organized by country.

While money orders were primarily used in England during the 19th and early 20th centuries, letters of credit were still being issued by various banks worldwide until the 1970s. Their use was complicated, as a special identification card had to be presented alongside the letter of credit to receive cash in local currency from so-called correspondent banks of the issuing bank. Furthermore, the bank had to have previously approved the amount of the letter of credit for the holder as a one-time loan. A letter of credit was therefore unsuitable as a means of payment for smaller amounts or as a flexible payment option on the spot. With the advent of traveler's checks at the beginning of the 20th century, it became possible to carry travel funds in flexible amounts, and these checks were accepted not only by banks but also by hotels and travel agencies. The peak of traveler's check use was from the 1970s to the 1990s, before they were superseded by credit cards.

Another section deals with payment instructions on board ships.

This section presents various onboard payment methods used by US, British, and German shipping lines, illustrated with numerous images. Onboard money also existed on airplanes: at a time when a trip from London to Australia, even by plane, took several days and involved overnight stays, passengers needed to have means of payment for their journey. A brief overview of hotel vouchers and traveler's checks for Muslim pilgrims to Mecca completes the book.

Mäkitie provides a wealth of information that contributes to understanding how travel payment methods worked, who issued such payment methods (besides banks, often shipping lines before the Second World War) and how they were used locally in payment transactions.

Mäkitie's beautifully produced, richly illustrated book makes no claim to completeness and contains no catalog prices, but only some assessments of rarity. For those seeking a catalog for this collecting area, the same author's books on traveler's checks (2nd edition 2020) and on money orders and letters of credit (new edition 2025) are highly recommended. Unfortunately, a comprehensive catalog of ship money is still lacking on the collectors' market.

To read the complete article, see:
Travellers' Money (Reisegeld). Eine illustrierte Geschichte von Bankanweisungen, Reisekreditbriefen und Reiseschecks (https://www.geldscheine-online.com/post/travellers-money-reisegeld-eine-illustrierte-geschichte-von-bankanweisungen-reisekreditbriefen)

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