St. Petersburg und Umgebung . . . Zweite Auflage; Handbook for Travellers

Leipzig: Karl Baedeker, Publisher, 1913. Second Edition. Original Cloth. Fine. Second (and final) Edition (first appeared in 1901), published only in German, with details of a new arrangement of paintings at the Hermitage recently completed. Small, slim 8vo: xxii,134pp, with 5 maps (including one of Russia on rear end papers), 11 plans, and 4 floor plans. Publisher's red flexible cloth, all edges marbled, green and red silk page-makers. Front end papers and half-title toned, but a superb, virtually pristine example: contents clean throughout, no marks, tears, marginalia, foxing, or stains; completely unfaded, crisp, and bright. Hinrichsen D465. "In 1828, [Karl] 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, 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.