“THE CHIEF ATTRACTION OF A VISIT TO PALESTINE AND SYRIA LIES IN THEIR HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS, AND THE MAIN OBJECT OF THIS HANDBOOK IS TO BEAR FAITHFUL AND ACCURATE WITNESS TO THESE ON THE SPOT ITSELF”

BAEDEKER, Karl. Palestine and Syria. The Routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia and the Island of Cyprus. Leipzig: Karl Baedeker, 1912. Octavo, original red cloth, printed and cartographic endpapers. $550.

Fifth edition, “remodelled and augmented,” of Baedeker’s travel guide to Palestine and Syria, with 21 maps, many double-page or folding; 50 plans; and a folding panorama of Jerusalem.

Considered to be the authoritative travel guides of their day and, indeed, for most of the late 19th and pre-WWII 20th century, Baedeker's guides were published for dozens of locations, both exotic and European, offering information on everything from accommodations to local customs. Travelers knew they could depend on the guides both for in-depth historical surveys of the regions they planned to visit as well as for advice on comfortable and confident travel. In fact, Baedeker's guides were so popular among the British that "baedekering" became a widely used term for traveling in order to write a guide or travel narrative. During World War II, the company's Leipzig headquarters were bombed in an air raid and the guides, already declining in prominence due to their Nazi associations, ceased production until 1948, when the company resumed publishing travel guides. Today, early Baedekers are popular collector's items and certain guides, such as Russia, India, Egypt, and, especially, Palestine and Syria, are considered quite rare and desirable. The first edition of this guide was published in German in 1875; the first edition in English was published in 1876. Without scarce original dust jacket.

Small closed tear to front free endpaper, interior generally fine, only slight rubbing to cloth. A lovely copy in very nearly fine condition.