Bill Dalton's ''Indonesia Handbook'', published by

Moon Publications Moon is a travel guidebook publisher founded in 1973 in Chico, California. The company started with travel guides to Asia and later also published guides to the Americas. Bill Dalton was the founder and writer of the regularly updated ''Indon ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, was the main English language tourist

guide book A guide book or travel guide is "a book of information about a place designed for the use of visitors or tourists". It will usually include information about sights, accommodation, restaurants, transportation, and activities. Maps of varying det ...

for the whole of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

between the 1970s and the 1990s.

History

The book originated in 1973 as a typewritten publication, ''A Traveler's Notes: Indonesia'', printed by Dalton when he was travelling in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. This led Dalton to form his company, Moon Publications, when he returned to California, and expand and publish his Travel Notes as a full book, the Indonesia Handbook. The earlier editions in the late 1970s were much smaller than the later editions. During the

Suharto Suharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian Officer (armed forces), military officer and politician, and dictator, who was the second and longest serving president of Indonesia, serving from 1967 to 1998. His 32 years rule, cha ...

era the guide book was at times banned. By the time of the last edition, published in 1995, the book was 1,380 pages long. Moon expanded its range to publish a large number of travel handbooks, following the successful format of the Indonesia Handbook, to cover other areas, for example the ''South Pacific Handbook'' by David Stanley. Dalton sold his interest in Moon Publications in 1999, and the new owners dropped the title.

Other publications

The Department of Information of the

Government of Indonesia The term Government of the Republic of Indonesia (, GOI, sometimes also referred to as Government of Indonesia or the Central Government () especially in laws) can have a number of different meanings. At its widest, it can refer collectively ...

published a volume with the same title between 1970 and 1977 - and it had been compiled and produced by Japenpa Foreign Languages Publishing Institute. In 1996 the title ''Indonesia Handbook'' was used for a new guide book by

Footprint Books Footprint Travel Guides is the imprint of Footprint Handbooks Ltd, a publisher of guidebooks based in Bath in the United Kingdom. Particularly noted for their coverage of Latin America, their ''South American Handbook'', first published in 1924, ...

, publisher of the ''South American Handbook''.Joshua Eliot (1996) ''Indonesia Handbook''

Publication details

* Dalton, Bill. 1982 ''Indonesia handbook'' 2nd ed., Chico, Calif.: Moon Publications.(rights in Hong Kong - location of printer) (486 p.) * Dalton, Bill. 1985 ''Indonesia handbook'' 3rd ed., updated and rev. Chico, CA : Moon Publications. (588 p.) * Dalton, Bill. 1988 ''Indonesia handbook'' 4th ed. Chico, Calif., USA Moon Publications. (1058 p.) * Dalton, Bill. 1995 ''Indonesia handbook'' 6th ed. Chico, Calif., USA Moon Publications. (1380 p.)

References

External links

Biographical details and interview with Dalton
Travel guide books Tourism in Indonesia Books about Indonesia American travel books {{travel-book-stub