Morris's slim travelogue was first published in 1964, before the boom in package holidays, easyJet flights and the slick rebranding of Spanish cities. There is no mention of the Guggenheim Bilbao or Ibiza rave culture: for this is the Spain of Gypsies, bullfights, orange groves and castanets. It is a place where young women look demure in frilly tops and men strut in bolero jackets, a place where the industrial revolution never happened, where Franco is still all-powerful. If its function as a frozen historical snapshot is one reason why Spain is interesting, another is its role as poetic historical guidebook. Condensing a remarkable range of history into its 155 pages, including descriptions of monarch Joan the Mad, Moorish occupations and giddy imperial ransacking, Spain is written in non-linear fashion, with every chapter starting from a different part of the country and exploring the genealogy of particular features (such as religion or water). A good read for the curious holidaymaker or for anyone susceptible to "the contagion of Spain".