About 20 years ago at a used bookshop in
Seattle, for $10 I bought an 1859 tourist guide to New York City. The signature
of the previous owners (from 1864 and 1950) were inside (click images for full-size view):
It includes a history of New York, the sights a tourist would want to see: government buildings, parks, churches (including reviews of the clergy), etc. Also, hotel and restaurant recommendations, and, of course, information about all the omnibus routes.
A number of these "Stranger's Guides" have been scanned and can be found on the Internet Archive.
A sample: New York (1828). Boston (1857). Washington DC (1884). Montreal (1872). London (1828). Paris (1822). United States and Canada (1838).
The cover page for the London guide is quite entertaining:
