The Nicholson Guides are a set of books now published jointly by Bartholomew and the Ordnance Survey as guides to the navigable waterways of England and Wales (and, more recently, Scotland).
The large-scale Guides are mainly intended for people traveling by boat along the river or canal. Generally, each page includes a map of a section of the waterway with features such as bridges, locks, boatyards and services. Each section of the map includes references to nearby pubs, towns and villages, roads and railways.
The Guides were first produced, in the 1970s, by Robert Nicholson Publications and were published by British Waterways. The first edition sold for 75 pence; but by the early 1980s the price had increased to £1.50.
The first edition came out as four Guides:
A fifth Guide, The Midlands, came out in the early 1980s.
The fifth edition in 1991 included 5 books:
The 1997/2000/2003/2007 editions were extended to 8 books:
There are also two small-scale fold-out maps, one covering Great Britain in its entirety, and one of Scottish waterways.