#baedeker's egypt and the sudan

[cinematic-literature]

Death on the Nile (2022) by Kenneth Branagh

Book title: Baedeker’s Egypt and the Sudan Handbook for Travellers (1929)

[l-egypte]

December 1, 2020 | Baedeker’s Egypt 

In May 2020, I read The Lady Travelers Guide to Scoundrels & Other Gentlemen, which featured a woman and a man who travel from London, England, to Paris, France, in 1889. And in the book was a mention of a Baedeker. As I had not heard of this term before, I decided to look into it.

According to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2e, a Baedeker refers to “any of various travel guidebooks published by the firm founded by the German Karl Baedeker.”

Wikipedia has a list of Baedeker guides: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Baedeker_Guides. Some of the guides covered such places as Austria (e.g., Austria-Hungary, 11e); Belgium and Holland (with the 11th and subsequent editions including the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg); the Dominion of Canada, with Newfoundland and an excursion to Alaska (with four editions—to note, Newfoundland joined the confederation, i.e., the rest of Canada, in 1949); Egypt (with the 6th and subsequent editions including Sudan); and more.

Of course, of interest to me was the Egyptian guides, and I found a couple of them on archive.org, though I imagine you can find all the other editions there as well (I believe Wikipedia has the links).

Egypt, 4th Edition (1898)

Egypt and the Sudan, 7th Edition (1914)

It would be interesting to read these old travel guides so that one may compare the tourism and travelling experiences of then to now. And especially with Egypt, one can compare which monuments, temples, etc. were discovered and available to tourists as attractions and, with some figuring out, which were not. I mean, new archaeological discoveries are not uncommon for Egypt; who knows what tourists in ten years’ time will be gawking at. For example, earlier in 2020, ancient coffins were discovered (see, for example, here). Anyways, these Baedeker guides will not only be a travel to Egypt but a travel through time!

Personally, before travelling to Egypt, I read Lonely Planet’s Egypt [2018]. I like Lonely Planet’s books. Do you have a preferred travel guide?

[Screenshots of scanned pages from the 4th edition of Egypt (1898)]

[wecappdac]

Baedeker's Egypt and the Sudan Tour Book 8th Edition 1929

http://dlvr.it/Pn1qPn