The United States with an Excursion into Mexico

Second edition of Baedeker’s guide to the United States.

“The Handbook to the United States, undertaken in response to repeated requests from British and American tourists, is intended to help the traveler in planning his tour and disposing of his time to the best advantage and thus to enable him the more thoroughly to enjoy and appreciate the objects of interest he meets with. The writer is Mr. J.F. Muirhead, M.A., who has for several years taken part in the English editions of Baedeker’s Handbooks, and has personally visited the greater part of the districts described.” – Preface.

This incredible guidebook to late-19th century America was published in Leipzig by Karl Baedeker in 1899. Its 550+ pages, designed as a reference tome for tourists, provide a fascinating perspective on the contemporary culture, transportation system, economic landscape, physical composition, and political institutions of the United States. Recommendations are provided for local places of interest and various accommodations. Folding maps present detailed street plans of the nation’s most prominent cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, and San Francisco. According to California State University Northridge,

“Baedeker’s travel guides, produced by publisher Karl Baedeker and his descendants beginning in the 1830s, were hugely popular with European audiences travelling around neighboring European nations and the far-flung reaches of their colonial empires. Baedeker wanted travelers to find all the information they needed about transportation, accommodations, restaurants, tipping, local sights, average prices, local cultural practices, and more within his travel guides.

He did not invent the travel guide, but the quantity of detailed information included in every Baedeker volume resulted in their overwhelming popularity. Indeed, the word “Baedekers” was almost universally used when referring to travel guides for several decades, and the guides were hugely influential in shaping the way Europeans interacted with and experienced non-European cultures through the early 20th century.”

Sources: Cal State University; Columbia University;