More re new Baedeker series

Times Online (Anthony Sattin)

Baedekers were first published in the 1820s to guide new European middle-class travellers. . . .

One of the largest and most annoying changes to the new series is to the arrangement of entries. The old book followed the Nile from the Mediterranean to the Sudan; the new presents its sights in a gazetteer. An A-Z layout might suit book designers and looks fine in the Rome and New York city guides, but it will not suit visitors to Egypt, especially with Luxor divided between three entries: Luxor, Karnak and Thebes. And while information is generally sound and well presented, there is less of it. The old book devoted 24 pages to the Egyptian Museum, the new book covers it in two.

But the biggest question hanging over this guidebook series concerns neither length nor design. It has to do with the speed they can inform us of the changes to our superfast world. Will Baedeker’s publishers stick to print, or move to the web and mobile downloads? Because the future of Baedeker, as with all the rest, lies in bytes as much as books.

See the above page for the full story. I posted previously on the subject, when Nigel Tisdall reviewed the new series on the Telegraph website.