Travel: Baedeker is back

Telegraph (Nigel Tisdall)

If ageing rock bands can reform, why shouldn't well-respected guidebooks make a comeback? History does not record whether Karl Baedeker was a mean air guitarist, but he would surely give an appreciative drum roll to find that his globetrotting titles will be back on sale in British bookshops from next month [January 7]. Covering traditional stamping grounds such as London, Rome and Venice, as well as modern holiday destinations such as Thailand and Dubai, a new series of 12 English-language Baedekers aims to reacquaint travellers with a brand renowned for offering expert advice, indefatigable detail and scrupulous research.

So which is the best buy? One problem with historic Baedekers is that their print now seems so small and dense. Travellers may feel obliged to pack a torch and magnifying glass just to read them, and it is no wonder their users all wore pince-nez... On the plus side, some of the new Baedekers are surprisingly hefty tomes. The 2008 guide to Egypt (608pp, £16.99) is more than double the weight of the 1908 guide (439pp). Both guides are caring, comprehensive and informative, but New Baedeker is clearly an earnest young swot, while Old Baedeker is a charming, if somewhat out-of-touch, windbag.

In these super-sensitive times, it is inevitable that a modern guide to Egypt no longer includes a chapter entitled Intercourse with Orientals (about conversing with your dragoman, actually), but one is left with a sneaking feeling that a century ago travellers had so much more fun. Come sunset in Luxor, New Baedeker recommends we sit down and admire its temple ruins in the atmospheric light, whereas Old Baedeker points out that this is a good time to go off to the Ramesseum and shoot a jackal. When faced with hassle from vendors at the Pyramids, New Baedeker suggests maintaining "a healthy distrust" of all offers. Old Baedeker has no time for such shilly-shallying. If confronted with a "light cavalry" of importuning donkey-boys, he recommends threatening use of a stick. Sturm und Drang, that was the way to travel.