"In 1910, the German publisher Baedeker brought out a new edition of its Handbook to Great Britain. The volume was the last Baedeker guide to Britain to be published before the First World War. And although earlier versions were replaced every few years, the 1910 edition would not be updated for almost two decades. The next one came out in 1927. As such, it shaped the experience of a generation of travellers to England, Scotland and Wales.
Baedeker, which began producing travel books in 1835, helped pioneer the modern concept of a travel guide. Unlike many earlier guides, in which writers spun narratives about their own journeys and experiences, Baedekers were informational and service-oriented — listing steamboat fares and passport requirements, recommending suitable clothing and suggesting how much to tip.
The guide was not universally embraced. An unsigned review in The New York Times, dated Nov. 12, 1910, lambasted Baedeker’s Great Britain, saying that the use of a guidebook denies the traveler the delight of the unexpected, and remarking icily, “Why has the Lake District received extraordinary honours and not the scenery of Wales?”
