Bancroftiana, Number 120 Fall 2002: Desiderata: Baedekers!

Desiderata

The United States, with an Excursion into Mexico. Handbook for Travelers, edited by Karl Baedeker, 1899. The volume offers potential visitors to San Francisco and the East Bay a wealth of information. With regard to Berkeley and the University, readers are informed that "the museums, the library (70,000 volumes) and the laboratories also deserve attention." The city of Oakland is lauded as "the 'Brooklyn' of San Francisco."

Baedekers!

With enthusiastic support from faculty members and Library colleagues, Bancroft is launching a new special collection: the travel guides published in Leipzig by the firm of Karl Baedeker beginning in the 1830s. For now, we wish to focus on guides published up to the year 1914.

Baedekers were the preeminent travel guides for more than 100 years. In fact, the firm name became synonymous with the tourist guide book. The guides contain detailed information about museums, social customs, monetary exchange rates, city plans, travel arrangements, and a wealth of other information (including the ads) which are of use to scholars and students.

We plan to build up a substantial run of Baedekers for this early period for all the countries and regions covered by the firm's publications and in all the languages employed (German, English, and French).

So we turn to our Friends and ask you all to look over your book shelves for those stout red volumes lovingly thumbed by an earlier generation of travelers. The books do not have to be in mint condition, as long as they are complete with all the maps.

In future issues of Bancroftiana, we will update you on our progress on building the collection and its use.

If you have some old Baedekers you are willing to part with, please contact The Bancroft's Acquisitions section: (510) 642-8171.