Northern
Germany as far as the Bavarian and Austrian Frontiers: Handbook for
Travellers by Karl Baedeker. Paperback book (cloth covered card)
published by Karl Baedeker 1904 (fourteenth revised edition), 395
pages with maps (some with colour and some monotone). Some of the
maps fold out.
Verlag
Karl Baedeker, founded by Karl Baedeker on July 1, 1827, is
a German publisher and pioneer in the business of
worldwide travel guides. The guides, often referred to simply as
"Baedekers" (a term sometimes used to refer to similar
works from other publishers, or travel guides in general), contain,
among other things, maps and introductions; information about routes
and travel facilities; and descriptions of noteworthy buildings,
sights, attractions and museums, written by specialists.
Before
Lonely Planet grabbed a near monopoly on travel guides for as far the
eye can imagine including where “there be dragons”, there was
Baedeker*. Published in Leipzig, Germany, they were THE guidebook to
have whenst roaming abroad during the late 1800s and up unitl much
later, and by all accounts they were pretty good at what they were
meant to do, which is guiding. Lots of maps and information and a
good proportion of the maps were fold out colour cartographic gems.
And you had a choice of language, German or English. If you were
French or from anywhere else that didn't speak German or English, bad
luck. Baedeker wasn't for you.
New
editions of Baedeker's are still in print but i'm not so sure how
collectable these newer editions are... probably not very. Currently
I have a swag of vintage Baedeker's for sale that are ticking over
nicely. Everything from Northern Germany to Southern Germany... and
others. All are in English, which is lucky to have in an English
speaking country, although I do know a German speaker who has an
interest in vintage travel guides**.
All of
these volumes have some wear. They are travel guides and having
personally travelled with various travel guides over the years, I can
confidently say that they do wear. Shoving them in and out of bags,
opening and closing maps, reading them, saving lives*** etc, usually
leaves some sort of toll on any travel guide... unless it's not used.
In the
last 10 years i've only come across one of two of these collectible
vintage editions, so when I stumbled on a shelf full as part of an
estate, I couldn't resist and grabbed the lot. I paid a bit more
than I usually do for this sort of thing, but I figured that it was
too good an opportunity to stock up the shelves in one quick
purchase. I've had a few offers for the collection as a whole, but
have decided to persist with selling them individually. Will they
sell? Is Tony Wheeler a wealthy man?
*
Others as well.
**
Hello Dieter.
***A
description of Bacillary dysentery in a well known guide book,
allowed me to self diagnose and medicate. Recovery was swift.
