Chances are you have at least a couple of Lonely Planet guides on your bookshelves, or in a box in your parents' garage along with very thin tax returns from the 1990s or early 2000s. I still have a couple of very outdated books—not for the informational value today, which is minimal, but because they're time capsules of how those countries were when I was traveling around years ago. And now BBC, which has owned the independent travel guide since 2007, is selling the brand at a big loss to some American billionaire who may also have fond memories of the densely packed books.

The books still sell pretty [...]