When Brighton-based children's design store The Kid Who kindly sent us a copy of Miroslav Sasek's 'This is New York' travel book for children recently, we were intrigued to find out more... These books have been around for over 50 years, ever since Czech-born artist Miroslav Sasek first published 'This is Paris' in 1958, but the beauty and charm of them is that despite being re-published more recently, the illustrations haven't changed one bit. They still have a distinct, vintage charm that reminds us a little bit of our own childhood story books. When Sasek first visited Paris for a 3 week holiday, he was mesmerised by the sights and sounds and wanted to capture them - and hence was born his very first travel book for children. 'This is London' quickly followed - and is every bit as enchanting, jam-packed with beautiful and original illustrations that capture so accurately details of the city as it was back then in 1959, and incredibly still is today. 'This is New York' was the third in the series. First published in 1960, it tells the story of the Big Apple with every bit as much charm and character as the other 2 books. Snapshots of our favourite pages include: Since his initial publications, Sasek has published additional travel books especially for children, including 'This is San Francisco' and 'This is Texas', each one as mesmorising as the last. Sadly, he passed away in 1980, but his memory will continue to live on through his inspirational work and these unique travel guides that really have nothing else to compete with. And at £10 each for the hardback copy, they are the perfect, long-lasting gift little globe-trotters everywhere.