C. B. (Charles Bertram) Black

Charles Bertram Black, usually published as C. B. Black, was a British travel writer active in the nineteenth century. Reference pages for his work identify him as the son of the Scottish publisher Adam Black, and list him as the author of many guidebooks covering European destinations including Paris, Normandy and Brittany, the Rhine, Holland, the Riviera, and Corsica.

His writing became especially associated with practical travel handbooks. Surviving editions and library records show a long run of guides issued across several decades, suggesting that he wrote for readers who wanted reliable routes, local background, and on-the-ground advice rather than purely literary travel sketches.

Black also contributed articles to the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Although a lot of biographical detail seems to be hard to confirm online, the record that does survive paints him as an experienced observer of continental travel whose books were meant to be genuinely useful companions for travelers of his time.