Karl Baedeker

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Karl Baedeker

Karl Baedeker (born November 3, 1801 in Essen , † October 4, 1859 in Koblenz , contemporary spelling: Karl Bædeker ) was a German publisher and, as an author, the founder of the Baedeker travel guide .

Life

Karl Baedeker was born on November 3rd, 1801 as the son of a long-established family of printers and publishers in Essen. He went to school in Essen and Hagen and began an apprenticeship as a bookseller at Mohr & Winter in Heidelberg in 1817 . He then studied humanities at the University of Heidelberg from 1819 to 1822 . From 1823 to 1825 he was an assistant to Georg Reimer in Berlin. He married Emilie nee Heintzmann on October 4, 1829 (born October 16, 1808 in Zabrze , † July 28, 1879 in Koblenz). The two had five daughters and five sons, of whom Ernst , Karl junior and Fritz continued their father's work.

On July 1, 1827, Karl Baedeker opened a publishing bookstore in Koblenz ( Verlag Karl Baedeker ). Five years later he acquired the publishing house from Franz Friedrich Röhling , who in 1828 had published the first Rhine travel guide Rheinreise from Mainz to Cöln , a manual for fast travelers by the historian Johann August Klein (1778-1831). For the second edition in 1835, Karl Baedeker revised and expanded the Rheinreise so that with the publication of the Rheinreise from Mainz to Cöln one can speak of the first Baedeker travel guide. The book was reprinted three times within twelve years.

Baedekers Berlin, travel guide from 1910, 19th edition

Baedeker revolutionized travel literature to make users independent of tour guides. Its handy guides to destinations in Germany, Austria , Switzerland , Italy and other European countries, bound in characteristic red covers, cemented the reputation of the Baedeker travel guides as a high-quality travel companion rich in facts. Baedeker attached particular importance to clarity, accuracy and timeliness. All travel descriptions have been revised several times. The name Baedeker became a synonym for travel guides in German-speaking countries in the 19th and early 20th centuries . Today, Karl Baedeker is considered to be one of the pioneers of mass tourism , as the Baedeker travel guides (based on the model of the Englishman John Murray ) institutionalized travel as a form of entertainment and specified a canon of travel routes and sights that are still valid today . In 1849, however, he himself argued in his "Rheinreise" why hikers in the Palatinate Forest could enjoy it as follows: "He need not fear that he will encounter that overbearing, over-saturated riot at every step that he can take in the narrow Rhine valley the light steam traffic floods the country like a locust, is capable of making the most attractive repulsive, and declares in all sorts of tongues that he has learned nothing and forgot nothing. "

Baedeker worked incorruptibly, soberly and precisely. According to one anecdote , he was a bean counter in the truest sense of the word. While climbing the Milan Cathedral , the Westphalian Baron Karl Gisbert Friedrich von Vincke observed in 1847 how Karl Baedeker stopped every 20 steps and put a dry pea from his waistcoat into his pocket. Multiplied by 20, the number of peas plus the remaining stages resulted in the precise stage specification for the later travel guide. During the descent, he then cross-checked.

It is precisely because of this accuracy that it owes its mention in the humorous British opera La Vie Parisienne by Alan Patrick Herbert and Alfred Robert Davies Adams (which, contrary to widespread information, is only vaguely based on the French original by Jacques Offenbach ). In the libretto by AP Herbert it says:

"For Kings and Governments may err // But never Mr. Baedeker."
Karl Baedeker's tomb at the main cemetery in Koblenz (left)

Baedeker's grave is located in the main cemetery in Koblenz .

To date guide appear under the brand Baedeker in the publisher Karl Baedeker , who is now publishing group MairDumont in Ostfildern with Stuttgart belongs.

Publications (small selection)

  • Rhine journey from Mainz to Cologne. Historically, topographically, and pictorially edited by Prof. Joh. Aug. Klein. With twelve lithographed views of remarkable castles ec. in outline . Koblenz, from Ms. Röhling 1828. [378 p.] ( Digitized version ). This book was reprinted by Baedeker in 1832.
  • Rhine journey from Strasbourg to Rotterdam . 2nd enlarged and improved edition. Bädeker, Koblenz [1835].
  • Rhine trip from Basel to Düsseldorf with excursions to Alsace and the Rhine Palatinate, the Murghal and Neckarthal, to the Bergstrasse, to the Odenwald and Taunus, to the Nahe, Lahn, Ahr, Roer, Wupper and Ruhrthal and to Aachen , arr. by K. Bädeker. 6. verb. u. Probably edition of the Klein'schen Rheinreise. Bädeker, Koblenz 1849 ( digitized version ).
  • Switzerland. Handbook for travelers, edited according to your own experience and the best resources. 5th, verb. Ed. Bädeker, Coblenz 1854 ( digitized version ).
  • Karl Bädeker (ed.): The Rhine valley from Mainz to Cologne. In picturesque views, especially of the knight's castles. Drawn from nature by JA Lasinsky . Etched in aquatint by R. Bodmer . 45 sheets. K. Bädeker. (OO, no year)
  • K. Bädeker: Handbook for travelers in Germany and the Austrian imperial state , Coblenz, 6th edition 1855 ( Google digitized version ).
  • K. Bädeker: Germany and the Austrian Upper Italy - manual for travelers , Coblenz, 8th edition 1858 ( Google digitized ).
  • K. Bädeker: Germany together with parts of the bordering countries , first part: Austria, South and West Germany, Upper Italy, Coblenz, 9th edition 1860 ( Google digitized version ).

Honors

  • The German astronomer Freimut Börngen named the asteroid he discovered in 1995 in the Tautenburg observatory (23578) Baedeker after Karl Baedeker.
  • On the IC line 5 from Cologne to Leipzig via Hanover and Magdeburg, the IC Karl Baedeker operated in 2001 and 2002 as IC 624 from Cologne to Leipzig and IC 625 in the opposite direction.
  • There are Baedekerstraßen in his hometown Essen as well as u. a. in Koblenz, Dortmund and in Leipzig .

literature

  • Otto Mühlbrecht:  Baedeker (1st Art.) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 759 f. (Family item)
  • Karl Friedrich Pfau :  Baedeker (2nd Art.) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 46, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1902, pp. 180-182. (Family item)
  • Hans Lülfing :  Baedeker, Karl. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 516 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Rudolf Schmidt : Baedeker, family . In: German booksellers - German book printers. Contributions to a company history of the German book industry . Volume 1, Berlin 1902, pp. 18-21 ( digitized version )
  • Karl Bellinghausen: Karl Baedeker and his work - 115 years ago, on July 1, 1827, the world-famous travel guide publisher Baedeker was founded in Koblenz . In: Moselland 1942, p. 33 f. [with a self-portrait of Karl Baedeker and two other illustrations]
  • Alex W. Hinrichsen: Baedeker, Karl , in: Walther Killy (Hrsg.): Literaturlexikon. Authors and works in the German language , Vol. 1, Gütersloh / Munich 1988, p. 287
  • Burkhart Lauterbach : Baedeker and other travel guides. A sketch of the problem. In the Folklore Journal. Half-yearly publication of the German Society for Folklore 85, 1989, pp. 206-234 ( digitized version ).
  • Irene Kiefer: Travel journalism and the de-privileging of travel in the 19th century, shown using the example of Baedeker , dissertation University of Salzburg 1989 (unprinted)
  • Alex W. Hinrichsen: Baedeker's travel guides 1832–1990; Bibliography 1832-1944; Directory 1948–1990; Publishing history , 2nd edition Bevern 1991
    • English: Alex W. Hinrichsen: Baedeker's Travel Guides 1832–1990. Bibliography 1832-1944; Listing 1948-1990. History of the publishing house . 2nd Edition. 2008 ( partially digitized ).
  • Baedeker: A name becomes a global brand , Ostfildern 1998, ISBN 3-89525-830-X
  • Hans Joachim Bodenbach: Vues du bords du Rhin - A Rhine album from the early 19th century with aquatint engravings from the Koblenz publishers Fr. Röhling and K. Bädeker (Baedeker) in one volume. The views published by Röhling . In: Bonner Geschichtsblätter Volume 49/50, 1999/2000 (2001), pp. 285-304.
  • Dorothea Bessen: Karl Baedeker and the travel literature , in: Book culture in the midst of industry: 225 years of GD Baedeker . Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2000, pp. 52-69.
  • Georg Jäger, Dieter Langewiesche, Wolfram Siemann (eds.): Baedeker. In: History of the German Book Trade in the 19th and 20th Century - The Empire 1870–1918. Part 1, Frankfurt am Main 2001, p. 533 f.
  • Hans Joachim Bodenbach: 200 years of romanticism on the Rhine - Vues du bords du Rhin - views of the Rhine from the publisher Karl Bädeker (Baedeker) in Koblenz , in: Contributions to Rhine customer (Rhein-Museum Koblenz) issue 54, 2002, pp. 26-55.
  • Katja Mittl: Baedeker's travel manuals. Functions and evaluations of a travel companion of the 19th century (= Alles Buch. Studien der Erlanger Buchwissenschaft 22). Erlangen - Nuremberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-940338-02-0 ( digitized version ).
  • Andreas Austilat : Mr. Baedeker is never wrong , in: Der Tagesspiegel No. 20394, Berlin, September 27, 2009; P. S7.
  • Benedikt Bock: Baedeker & Cook. Tourism on the Middle Rhine 1756 – until approx. 1914 , Lang, Frankfurt am Main (among others) 2010, ISBN 978-3-631-59581-7
  • Christoph Suin de Boutemard: From the first "Baedeker" to the modern travel guide. The program of Karl Baedeker Verlag in the first three decades of its existence . In: Christoph Suin de Boutemard, Peter Kleber, Ulrich Offerhaus, Susanne Müller, Lydia Grossmann, Benedikt Bock, Miriam and Bertold Schmidt-Thomé, Barbara Koelges: Verleger und Verlagshaus Baedeker in Koblenz. On the 150th anniversary of Karl Baedeker's death (= Writings of the State Library Center Rhineland-Palatinate 7), Koblenz 2011, pp. 7–38.
  • Peter Kleber: Baedeker's pioneer? The Koblenz book and art dealer Franz Friedrich Röhling 1827–1832 . In: Christoph Suin de Boutemard (et al.): Publisher and publishing house Baedeker in Koblenz. On the 150th anniversary of Karl Baedeker's death (Writings of the State Library Center Rhineland-Palatinate 7) Koblenz 2011, pp. 39–49.
  • Susanne Müller: The world of Baedeker. A media culture history of the travel guide 1830–1945 , Frankfurt am Main, Campus-Verlag 2012, ISBN 978-3-593-39615-6 .
  • Ümit Yoker: A travel guide from the very beginning , Baedeker - in the 19th century the name of the publishing family was synonymous with a printed travel guide . The world wars destroyed the good reputation. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), Zurich, December 11, 2015, Travel section, p. 39.

Web links

Commons : Karl Baedeker  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Baedeker, family. In: Rudolf Schmidt: German booksellers. German book printer. Volume 1. Berlin 1902, pp. 18-21 (digitized version). Retrieved April 27, 2017 . ; Baedeker. Publishing and editing. In: Baedeker.com. Retrieved April 27, 2017 .
  2. ^ Family tree of the Baedeker family (Karl Baedeker, Coblenz) ; Retrieved April 27, 2017
  3. ↑ Karl, Baedeker, Rheinreise from Basel to Düsseldorf, Koblenz 1849, [reprint in Die bibliophilen Taschenbücher, Dortmund 1978], Chapter 1, Rheinpfalz ", page 15
  4. ^ AP Herbert, A. Davies-Adams: La Vie Parisienne. A Comic Opera in Three Acts (Very remotely related to the Offenbach opera with the above title) . Ernest Benn Limited, London 1929. Baedeker quotation on p. 39.
  5. ↑ The Baedeker-Verlag itself also speaks of "the English translation of the libretto for Jacques Offenbach's operetta 'La Vie Parisienne'", z. B. on his website . Herbert and Davies-Adams emphasize with a preliminary remark on p. 5: “This is not a translation, or even, strictly, an 'adaptation' [...] We have borrowed from MM. Meilhac and Halévy the title of their libretto , but very little else. Indeed (under instruction) we have never read it. "
  6. ↑ Compare the web pages trains with names for which there was no entry of the IC Karl Baedeker before 2001 , and the long-distance traffic database , which from 2003 no longer received an entry of the IC Karl Baedeker.
personal data
SURNAME Baedeker, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German publisher
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1801
PLACE OF BIRTH eat
DATE OF DEATH October 4, 1859
Place of death Koblenz