Russland [Russia]

Leipzig: Karl Baedeker, Publisher, 1897. Cloth. Near Fine+. Fourth Edition. lii, 458pp, with 14 maps, 18 plans, and 4 floor plans. An exceptional copy (preliminaries and subsequent page edges toned), with bright gilt lettering, one (of two) woven silk page-maker, and richly marbled edges; the red flexible cloth covers unmarked, square and tight, the maps properly folded and free of tears. Hinrichsen D460. "The Romantic movement in Germany had given a new impetus to travel . . . In 1828 Baedeker bought the rights to J. A. Klein's Rheinreise von Mainz bis Köln and, after the death of the author, Baedeker himself revised and updated the work, recreating it for a new market. Using his own travel experiences he guided the tourist to the principal attractions in each place, saving travellers the expense of hiring their own guide. He thus created a new type of guidebook, which was widely copied throughout Europe and opened up tourism to a new class of visitor. The reliability of the information was ensured by annual journeys by Baedeker himself and by reference to respected published sources and expert scholars. . . . For the serious tourist a Baedeker was indispensable, its tone, especially with respect to southern Europeans, assuring northerners of their superiority, and suggesting ways of avoiding dangers. When Lucy Honeychurch finds herself ‘In Santa Croce with no Baedeker' in E. M. Forster's A Room with a View (1908) she is entirely lost." (ODNB) Note: With few exceptions (always noted), we only stock Baedekers in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene wrappers.