Red board binding with black and orange title on the spine and front board.

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For conditions, please view our photographs. An original book from the library gathered by the famous Cambridge Don, computer scientist, food and wine connoisseur, Jack Arnold LANG. 

The first Michelin Guide was published for the British Isles in 1911 and originally contained driving information to motorists. It ran for five years until it was suspended during World War I and resumed from 1922 until 1930 now titled ‘Great Britain’. In 1974, a new guidebook was released in its modern form, solely a restaurant and hotel guide titled, ‘Great Britain and Ireland.’

As of the 2024 guide, there are 165 restaurants in England (including Greater London) with a Michelin-star rating, a rating system used by the Michelin Guide to grade restaurants based on their quality.

The Michelin Guides are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tire company Michelin since 1900.The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic areas. Michelin also publishes the Green Guides, a series of general guides to cities, regions, and countries.

HISTORY: In 1900, there were fewer than 3,000 cars on the roads of France. To increase the demand for cars, and accordingly car tires, the car tire manufacturers and brothers Édouard and André Michelin published a guide for French motorists, the Guide Michelin (Michelin Guide).Nearly 35,000 copies of this first, free edition were distributed. It provided information to motorists such as maps, tyre repair and replacement instructions, car mechanics listings, hotels, and petrol stations throughout France.The founders thought the Guide might encourage car owners to drive more, which would increase tyre wear and in turn boost replacement sales.In 1904, the brothers published a guide for Belgium, and then for Algeria and Tunisia (1907); the Alps and the Rhine (northern Italy, Switzerland, Bavaria, and the Netherlands) (1908); Germany, Spain, and Portugal (1910); the British Isles (1911); and “The Countries of the Sun” (Les Pays du Soleil) in northern Africa, southern Italy, and Corsica (1911). In 1909, an English-language version of the guide to France was published.

During World War I, publication of the guide was suspended. After the war, revised editions of the guide continued to be given away until 1920. It is said that André Michelin, while visiting a tyre merchant, noticed copies of the guide being used to prop up a workbench. Based on the principle that “man only truly respects what he pays for”, Michelin decided to charge for the guide, about 7.50 francs or US$2.15 in 1922. They also made several changes, notably listing restaurants by specific categories, adding hotel listings (initially only for Paris), and removing advertisements. Recognizing the growing popularity of the restaurant section, the brothers recruited a team of anonymous inspectors to visit and review restaurants. Following the usage of the Murray’s and Baedeker guides, the guide began to award stars for restaurants in 1926. Initially, there was only a single star awarded. Then, in 1931, the hierarchy of zero, one, two, and three stars was introduced. Finally, in 1936, the criteria for the rankings were published:

• : “A very good restaurant in its category” (Une très bonne table dans sa catégorie)
• : “Excellent cooking, worth a detour” (Table excellente, mérite un détour)
• : “Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey” (Une des meilleures tables, vaut le voyage).

In 1931, the cover was changed from blue to red and has remained so in all subsequent editions. During World War II, publication was again suspended. In 1944, at the request of the Allied Forces, the 1939 guide to France was specially reprinted for military use; its maps were judged the best and most up-to-date available. Publication of the annual guide resumed on 16 May 1945, a week after VE Day. In the early post-war years, the lingering effects of wartime shortages led Michelin to impose an upper limit of two stars; by 1950 the French edition listed 38 establishments judged to meet this standard. The first Michelin Guide for Italy was published in 1956. It awarded no stars in the first edition. In 1974, the first guide to Britain since 1931 was published. Twenty-five stars were awarded.

In 2005, Michelin published its first American guide, covering 500 restaurants in the five boroughs of New York City and 50 hotels in Manhattan. In 2007, a Tokyo guide was launched. In the same year, the guide introduced a magazine, Étoile. In 2008, a Hong Kong and Macau volume was added. As of 2013, the guide is published in 14 editions covering 23 countries. In 2008, the German restaurateur Juliane Caspar was appointed the first woman and first non-French national editor-in-chief of the French edition of the guide. She had previously been responsible for the Michelin guides to Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The German newspaper Die Welt commented on the appointment, “In view of the fact German cuisine is regarded as a lethal weapon in most parts of France, this decision is like Mercedes announcing that its new director of product development is a Martian.”

The Korea Tourism Organization commissioned Michelin to include South Korea in its 2016 edition at a cost of 3.2 billion won (over US$1 million); government officials were unhappy with resulting inaccuracies such as typos, translation errors, and description errors regarding seating options In 2017, the Tourism Authority of Thailand agreed to pay 144 million Thai baht (US$4.4 million) over five years for the inclusion of their country. In 2022, the guide expanded to Canada, with guides covering Toronto and Vancouver,in return for undisclosed payments from each city’s local chapter of Destination Canada.The guide announced its first list of restaurants in the US state of Florida on 9 June 2022, after the state and city tourism boards in Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, agreed to collectively pay the company up to US$1.5 million. The guide awarded a single two-star ranking and fourteen one-star rankings, and 29 Bib Gourmands.

In late 2022, the guide expanded to Vietnam, Malaysia, Estonia, and the United Arab Emirates in return for undisclosed payments.In February 2023, the Israeli Tourism Ministry announced a bid to bring the Michelin guide to their country in return for a payment of €1.5 million. Also in 2023, the guide expanded to several cities in Colorado (Aspen, Beaver Creek Resort, Boulder, Denver, Snowmass Village, and Vail) that paid between US$70,000 and US$100,000 on top of a state contribution; other cities (Aurora, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, and Grand Junction) declined to participate. In September 2023 the Michelin Guide also expanded to Atlanta, in return for a payment of US$1 million over three years.

In the early 2020s, Michelin began requiring certain countries which had previously received reviews to pay for continued coverage. Hungary, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic agreed to do so. In 2025, the guide plans to expand to the southeastern United States, called the American South edition, which includes Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The edition will include the Atlanta guide. A few months later, on May 12, 2025, Michelin announced plans to expand the guide to Boston and Philadelphia, with the restaurant selections to be revealed later in the year. The press release stated that these would be included in the “newly minted MICHELIN Guide Northeast Cities edition”, which would also include the already-rated cities of Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C. Tourism board Meet Boston reportedly paid over $1 million for three years of coverage, sourced from hotel surcharges in Boston and neighboring Cambridge, Massachusetts. The guide will expand to the Philippines in 2026, covering the Greater Manila Area and Cebu.

Transition to digital publication: The Michelin Guide ended printed copies in 2021. After 121 years, Michelin transitioned to digital publication and released a proprietary app. This allowed Michelin to distribute the guide to a larger audience at no charge. However, as of 2024, a handful of popular regions, France, Italy, Japan and Spain, remain in printed publication.