Souvenirs De Voyage Scrapbook (Hit the Road)

All that remains of the journey is a jumble of seemingly useless flotsam that is usually swept into a bureau drawer.

Louise Kollenbaum, a Bay Area author, graphic designer and founder of Mother Jones magazine, has written and designed a journal, Souvenirs de Voyage: A Traveler's Keepsake Book that corrals the ephemera of travel.

'Voyage' was inspried by my own love of collecting and the discovery that active gathering along the way sparks an attention to detail that can make one look upon the trip differently, says Kollenbaum. Later, even the simplest scraps can both insprie and call back memory.

The 128-page book, easily tucked into a carry-on bag, contains tales of Kollenbaum's favorite journeys, as well as chapters on collecting, design, the art of collage, preservation and composition.

The canvas-trimmed binding is fitted with elastic bands that allow for expansion. The exquisitely crafted collages star Kollenbaum's personal stash of ticket stubs, stamps, eggshells, fabric swatches and a single pressed grape leaf that has the power to invoke a miagical Tuscan idyll.

Interspersed are glassine envelopes that protect viewing of treasures, as will as lined and blank pages upon which to capture reveries - and mementos.

Kollenbaum's elegant bok imbues the traveler with the creativity to craft a talismanic travel diary as evocative as one of Proust's beloved madeleines. -San Francisco Chronicle