The Passport

by Martin Lloyd

The passport is a document familiar to all, used and recognized worldwide. Yet, how does a passport actually work, and what happens when it doesn't? When was the first passport issued? How can a forged passport be detected, and how did a passport link Lord Palmerston to the attempted assassination of Napoleon III? In this book, Martin Lloyd uses his in-depth experience with H.M. Immigration Service to explore the problems, humour, crime and politics which constitute the history of the passport. The idea of the passport is not new. The Ancient Egyptians were known to have a passport system while, in Roman times, persons travelling on official business were issued with a Tractorium (a letter) in the name of the emperor. Yet contrary to the popular idea, passports were often used to prevent not facilitate travel. William the Conqueror allowed no one to enter or leave England without his permission while Henry I and Elizabeth I refused to grant passports to, respectively, the legate from the Pope and Mary, Queen of Scots. Passports have also enabled murder to take place and saved the lives of many Jews in the Second World War. However, their ultimate role appears to be that of control. When machine-readable passports provide the state with more information on the movement of citizens than at any time in history, many are beginning to ask whether the age of Big Brother has not already arrived.The Passport offers a unique perspective on the intriguing history of this document. Martin Lloyd draws on many years of research, and includes illustrations from his own collection, to create the first book on this subject.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

242 pages, Paperback

First published July 25, 2003

Reviews

[Peter Codington · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very interesting, fast read, but needed much more organization; references; and historical objectiveness. It’s not wrong to have opinions, but I find it problematic when they come through so strongly in the course of a historical narrative. Perhaps this book is still good jumping ground into more independent research. Needs some reworking and updating for 2025 and beyond.

[catechism · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. I apologize in advance for the torrent of vitriol I'm about to unleash, because Lloyd obviously loves passports, and so do I, and his enthusiasm comes through loud and clear. Unfortunately, another thing that came through loud and clear is the fact that he is neither an historian nor an author. The source texts were suspect and sometimes missing altogether, and this book is utterly devoid of any sense of structure, either narrative or grammatical. The prose was disjointed and difficult to follow, and paragraphs jumped quickly from one topic and one century to another with neither warning nor reason. It's basically a miracle I finished it, but goddammit, I am really interested in passports and I really wanted to know things. Unfortunately, I do not know all that much more now than I did when I started.

[Carolyn Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Passport is filled with interesting facts about the history of travel. Lloyd notes that the Old Testament figure Nehemiah, the Governor of Persian Judea, required travel documents in c. 450 BCE to journey between regions that are now part of Israel and Iraq. France developed an internal passport system before the French Revolution while British passports were viewed as courtesy rather than a necessity until the First World War.
Unfortunately, the wealth of knowledge does not come together into a cohesive narrative as facts related to one another, such as League of Nations passports for refugees and the United Nations documents that replaced them, are discussed in completely different sections of the book. There are only passing references to the unique experiences of women travelers over the centuries. Lloyd mentions that married women were listed on the passports of their husbands in the early 20th century but does not analyse the implications of this practice for women's mobility or when passports for individual women became widespread. The illustrations, comparing passports throughout history and around the world are quite interesting. The content of the book is interesting but should be better organized and analyzed for readers. The book would also benefit from a stronger conclusion than "I rather like passports."

[Christopher Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly fascinating book. At 260 pages, a treatise on the history of the passport could have been long, stodgy and dull, but Lloyd rescues his subject with some strong humanisation. There seems to be something of a tendency amongst specialist non-fiction books nowadays to humanise their stories, and I've seen some long stretches to find a character worthy of introducing ideas; however, in The Passport, every one of Lloyd's examples is illustrative and interesting. There are also some wonderfully thought provoking ideas here - for example, should there even be passports anymore? And who do they really serve?

All in all, a charming little book, just like its topic.

[Alice Chau-Ginguene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very unique and insightful book on the history of passport. Lot of interesting and rare photos to show passports in the past. The author is not a historian and this is not an academic book, but nevertheless, very thorough research have been done and have drawn from personal experience working in the factors for many years. Entertaining and quite a quick read.
The book is now over 20 years old. An updated version will be needed for technology has moved on a lot in this area - facial recognition, finger print, automation, algorithms and smart ID etc.
The recent development on global migration will also need a review.

[Diogo Jesus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whilst filled with interesting facts about travel and the evolution of ID's/Passports the lack of sources and the lack of writting skills are an important put-off.

[Sandy Millin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an absolutely fascinating journey through the history of the passport, drawing on sources from around the world and showing how we arrived at the passport(s) which exist today. There are lots of interesting stories about the use and misuse of the passport system, starting at the beginning with a story entitled 'Murder at the Opera'! It was written by somebody with lots of experience in the UK Immigration Service, who is clearly also a passionate amateur historian. Although the writing occasionally jars, the passion shines through and makes it very readable.

[Kate Millin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this fascinating as the author includes the historical events which have influenced the development of the passport. I had not realised the number of times there had been proposals to abolish passports. The book jumps about a bit and took a bit of time to get into, but was overall an interesting read. I will look at my passport in a different way now.

[Andy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up randomly at a book store because I thought it would be interesting. I admit some parts about the passport's creation and evolution were interesting, the book was quite dry and more like a history book to me.

[Rabble · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting history of passports and related identity and travel documents. Not very deep, super easy to read. Fun to know a bit more about passports.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

this would be a good book to leave next to the toilet, it's full of interesting snippets of information but not very convincingly strung together